


Stay a Little Longer

by ziamsquad



Category: One Direction (Band), liam payne - Fandom, zayn malik - Fandom
Genre: Accountant Liam Payne, Angst with a Happy Ending, Boss/Employee Relationship, Break Up, Flashbacks, Fluff, Louis is the assistant manager he's lovely and mean, M/M, Office Blow Jobs, Post-Break Up, a bunch of other character but they're only briefly mentioned, lots of sad Liam :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 04:22:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14012100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ziamsquad/pseuds/ziamsquad
Summary: When Liam sends his assistant manager to find a replacement employee after one of the accountants retires, the last thing he expects is for Louis to shuffle into his office with Liam's ex-boyfriend of three years in tow.His tedious office job somehow turns into his own personal nightmare, with the only person he's ever really loved moving into the office right across the hall, so close yet so unattainable.





	Stay a Little Longer

Liam knows he should be thankful for the opportunities that life threw at him, the same one’s he caught with ease and made his own. But right now, staring at the stack of files on his desk all he could think about was the other routes he could have taken after high-school.

Maybe he could have applied to a nice law school, or even taken his football career further. He probably wouldn’t have been all too good at it, but at least he wasn’t _here_.

He knows deadlines make him cranky, and he loves his job, he’s worked far too hard to get this position but sometimes it was so _hard_. Being the manager of the accountings department was a huge accomplishment for someone his age, and Liam knows he mostly got it due to a stroke of luck. He handles it well, his employees respect him and his assistant manager was his best friend. It would be selfish of him to complain about the environment he works in.

 He looks at the files calculatingly, if he takes only a couple of breaks for ten minutes, he can get this done before the midnight deadline.

It was early in the morning, so he still had an ounce of motivation, and if he didn’t start on this soon that would be thrown out the window too.

He quietly curses Benjamin as he starts working, if the guy hadn’t decided on an early retirement he would not be burdened with this much work. He couldn’t relieve himself of the pressure until Louis was done interviewing new potential employees, and he was taking his sweet time.

After a few hours of working, he was finally getting into the flow of things, and right on track. The door pushes open and Liam doesn’t need to look up to know it’s Louis, “Good news Payne, I’ve finalised things with our perfect candidate and-“

“Don’t care,” He says flippantly, furiously scribbling notes onto a form. “Do what you have to do, and get out.”

“Christ, someone’s feeling Benji’s absence a little too much.” Louis mutters.

“ _Louis_.” He snaps, “Oh and grab me a coffee.”

“Ask politely,”

“I will fire you with no hesitation.”

The door closes quietly then, and Liam lets out a deep breath. He had this in the bag, only several more accounts to work through. Louis comes back later with a coffee and paper bag, ruffling his hair before he turns around. “Oh, I’m bringing Benji’s replacement around for a tour later on.” He calls as he closes the door behind him.

Liam just hums in response, not letting is focus waver.

He relents after a while, pushing his chair back form the table and tipping his head back onto the cool leather. He spins the chair a bit, looking outside the windows at the bustle of cars and people. The view was exactly what you’d expect from a business in the middle of London, grey clouds and dewy floors.

He groans internally and pushes off of the chair, making his way down to the break room for snacks. The building wasn’t the largest, and it didn’t’ have glass walls for the offices like some of the newer offices and Liam was eternally grateful for that because he did not need his co-workers to witness his breakdowns in his office. it was still elegant, with its large polished wooden doors and tiled flooring.

The break room was another safe-haven, after his office, because it had a fridge and a coffee pot, and most of the time it had his lazy and entertaining colleagues.

“Payne!” Ashton calls out, when he enters the room. He stands up and goes straight for the coffee pot, flicking it on. “Sit, I’ll get your drink ready.” He says, and Liam smiles gratefully, taking a seat of the table. “You have stress wrinkles on your forehead.“ He says, a cheeky smile on his face, dimples as prevalent as ever.

“Thanks, mate.” He mutters, nudging Andy beside him, who looks like he was having a nap on the table.

Andy groans, slowly lifting himself off the table. “Oh, Liam!” He says suddenly, when he realises he’s sitting next to his boss. “Mr. Payne. Power kip for efficiency.” He says, lips spreading into a smile.

Liam huffs out a laugh, bumping their shoulder’s together. Ashton places a steaming cup of black coffee in front of him, and Liam finally relaxes a little. Everyone in his department was like his own little family, they all looked out for each other and always had each other’s back. Liam was lucky to have them for a team.

“Thanks, Ash.” He mumbles, putting his hands around the mug to let the heat seep into his cold palms.

Louis traipses in after a moment, grabbing a juice box and an apple. “You’re going to love our new Benji.” He says, a smile in his voice. “Properly fit, he is.”

“Are you giving the job based on looks?” Ashton snorts, “But I really do need a new mate around here, these lot are all bores.”

“Get back to your work, you don’t need more encouragement to slack off.” Liam says, putting on his boss-voice. Ashton grins at him and saunters out of the room with a salute.

 

 

When he’s back at the office he’s more at ease, with only a bit more paperwork left to complete. The caffeine in his system makes his hand tremble a little, his heart feeling loud in his chest. He should really switch to water.

He shrugs off his blazer, letting the thin material of his white dress shirt cool him down a little. He loosens his tie a little too, it was nearing the end of the day and there was no one around that was going to raise their brows a his messy and tired appearance.

Getting the role of manager was one of the most important advancements to happen in his career, and the feeling of having all his colleagues look up to him was exhilarating, but immensely exhausting. He wanted to be a good boss, and listen to what people needed and guide them appropriately to grow in their own careers, and it took a lot out of him.

There’s a light knock on his door, and he can already her Louis’ voice outside to know its him, so he doesn’t bother straightening up. He continues scrawling data into a form with his head ducked, as the door pushes open.

“And this is the big boss, Liam Payne.” He hears Louis explain. “He’s a bit mean sometimes, but you get used to it.”

This was Liam’s cue to look up and meet new Benji, even though he was tired and didn’t really care about introductions at this point. He just needed someone who would get the work done with the least fuss as possible.

He finishes his sentence and looks up, already plastering a fake smile onto his face. The smile drops the second he lays his eyes on the man standing a few metres away from him, and he just stares into a pair of brown eyes that were far too familiar with his lips ajar for a moment.

In a split-second reaction, he can feel his head spinning and his heart threatening to jump out of his throat, his chest constricting and trapping his breath. He knows he looks he looks like he’s just seen a ghost, judging by the quizzical look Louis was shooting him.

“Okay, he’s a bit stressed right now, so we’ll leave him alone for now.” He hears Louis say, as he puts a hand on the small of Zayn’s back and ushers him out of the room, before throwing another confused look over his shoulder, that Liam is hardly able to process.

He doesn’t realise how bad his hands were trembling now, until his pen slips from his fingers and onto the table. His breath is coming down in shallow pants and he tries to control himself, tries to regain his composure but all he can see when he closes his eyes is long black lashes and soft eyes burning in the back on his eyelids.

He doesn’t know how the hell Zayn could possibly be here, in London, in _his_ firm. They weren’t supposed to ever see each other again. Zayn had left the country a week after graduation and that was supposed to be it. _This_ wasn’t supposed to be happening, Liam wasn’t supposed to be sitting behind his large desk in a fit of panic because he ex-boyfriend of three years was now his colleague.

 

_The sun is beating down on his bare back as he bounces around on the grass on the balls of his feet, waiting for the football to be passed to him. Harry runs into him and Liam tackles the ball from him easily, his long legs and clumsy composure making him an easy opponent._

_“Hey,” He whines, trying to keep up with Liam as a few other of the lads from class chase after him._

_Liam lets out a surprised shout when someone places the foot in front of his, and he find himself flailing and falling forward. He catches himself on his hands and groans, even though the floor wasn’t hard enough for it to actually hurt._

_The boys continue playing around him, their laughter easy and flowing around the park, and Liam just rolls onto his back, propping himself on his elbows._

_“Hey! Leave my baby alone, you’re all playing dirty!” He hears a familiar shout, and he looks over to see Zayn walking over to the huddle of students in their heated football game._

_“We’re not.” Michael shouts back, laughter in his voice. “Your man is just playing shit!”_

_Liam collets himself from the ground, and flips over Michael as they continue playing in mess of limbs. He shuffles over to Zayn, a wide grin on his face. He doesn’t say anything, too overcome with affection in that moment and grabs Zayn’s face and presses their lips together hastily._

_Zayn giggles against his lips, brushing their noses together as he kisses him back. Liam smiles against his skin, “Glad you came, love.”_

_“In the middle of the field?” Harry shouts, grabbing the football and throwing it at them. It misses, obviously, because Harry had about the same athletic ability as a sloth._

_Zayn moves closes with a laugh, pressing a kiss to Liam’s cheek this time. “Where’s your shirt?” He asks, “We do have a class in a while, you know.”_

_Liam twists around, looking at his white t-shirt he had discarded earlier, which was now scrunched up and half melded into the dirt in the ground._

_Zayn snorts, rolling his eyes. He shrugs off the oversized plaid shirt he was wearing unbuttoned over a black tee, and passes it to Liam. “Put this on,” He says, fondness radiating off his voice. “Let’s go grab a coffee, yeah?”_

 

 

Liam doesn’t know how long he sits there, his eyes stinging with tears and he feels completely and utterly pathetic. He pushes himself off his chair then, leaving his office and locating Louis’ door, a few rooms down from his. He doesn’t knock, just pushes the door open and looks over at Louis with wild frantic eyes.

“Hey,” Louis says slowly, eyeing him critically.

Liam closes the door behind him and moves further into the room. “Louis, what did you do?” He asks, and he can hear the hysteric edge to his voice. He _knows_ he sounds like a maniac, he doesn’t need Louis looking at him like he was one, though.

“Is this about Benji?” Louis asks, “Why’d you not introduce yourself? I want him to like this place.”

“His _name_ is Zayn.” Liam seethes out.

“Well yeah, I know that. It’s just a joke.”

“Zayn Malik, Louis!” He says, “Zayn fucking Malik! I’ve told you about him!”

Louis looks at him, his brows scrunched for a second, like he was deep in thought. It takes him a minute, but his eyes widen and his features soften. “ _No_ ,” He says, the disbelief in his voice.

“Yes!” Liam shouts hysterically.

“But – but you said he moved out the country!” he says. “What is _happening_.”

“I don’t – fuck, I don’t know.” He drops his head into his hands, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Look, I can still tell him I found another candidate for the job, it’s not too late.” Louis says, an ounce of optimism seeping into his voice.

Liam just shakes his head, “No.” He says. “No. Fuck I just. Have to deal with this.”

 

 

The next day he gets to the office earlier than usual, so he can slip into his office unnoticed and avoid confronting certain past lovers. It was ridiculous, he’s aware, but he has no idea how to talk to Zayn. What was he supposed to say? _Hey, welcome to the job, for this to work smoothly it would be nice if you could forget our three years at university ever happened!_

He doesn’t think that would work. He didn’t have any looming deadlines anymore, and all he was looking forward to yesterday morning was coming into work without being stressed out of his wits. But now the anxiety coiling inside his chest had increased by tenfold, and it was so much more constricting than regular work-stress.

He hides out in his office for most of the morning, a few people drop by with finished reports but aside from that, he avoids interaction with anyone.

By midday, Louis pushes is way into the office and sits on the chair across Liam’s desk. “So you’re just going to avoid him because you made out a few times a couple years ago?” Louis asks, his voice sharp.

Liam narrows his eyes at him, because it was so much more than that, and Louis knows it.

“You’re his boss, Liam.” He says, with raised brows. “You need to guide him; I can’t cover for you much longer.”

Liam runs his fingers through his hair, letting out a deep breath. “I don’t – how am I supposed to talk to him. I can’t.”

“Yeah, you can.” Louis says confidently. “Look, I’ll send him over here with some papers and you can have a chat then, yeah?

“Not yet, I’m not ready.” Liam says urgently. “Give me a few more days.” Just the idea of having to look at Zayn sends a rush of panic through him, there was no way he could do it. There was too much history between them for him to pretend like it was a normal conversation between colleagues.

“Liam.” He says, with a pinched look on his face now. “If you don’t get this over with now, you’ll never get it done.” He stands up then, the finality in his voice making Liam’s nerves flare.

He knows Louis is right, postponing the conversation wouldn’t make it go away, but it was a safer option. He goes back to sitting in his office alone, he hadn’t had any coffee in the morning, but he was feeling jittery and anxious, it was consuming.

It takes him a while of contemplation to realise that this situation was not going to go away. He could let Louis send Zayn in here, giving Zayn the idea that Liam was afraid of approaching him himself or he could sort this out on his own.

He grabs the office telephone quickly, before he can talk himself out of it and hits the digit to call the team secretary.

“Jade, send Malik to my office.”

“Of course, sir.” She replies, her voice too chipper for his forlorn mood.

Liam sits there for several minutes, wiping the sweat of his palms on the side of his slacks and asking himself why the hell he thought this was a good idea.

He was Zayn’s boss, and Liam was going to establish his authority from the get-go. He jumps out of his thoughts when he hears a tentative knock on is door.

For some reason, the hesitancy off the knock sends a thrill through Liam, because it was slightly comforting to know that Zayn was as uncomfortable with this as he was.

“Come in.” He calls, making sure to keep his voice as stoic as possible. He wasn’t going to let his feelings get in the way of work.

The door pushes open, but Liam just pretends to sift through some papers, keeping his attitude nonchalant and his head ducked.

He looks up when he hears the footsteps nearing to his desk, and he had spent the last day preparing for this. He thought it would count for something, but as soon as his eyes lock with Zayn’s, his breath is stuck in his throat and he couldn’t get a work out even if he wanted.

He looks different, Liam notes. His facial hair was thicker, and neatly trimmed. His hair was long too, pushed into an inky black quiff that was artfully messy in a way that only Zayn could pull off. His cheeks were more hollowed out, making his cheekbones sharper. His black dress shirt was fitted around his shoulders, and it was evident that he’d been going to the gym, something he hated a few years back.

“I –um, Jade she uh – she said you asked for uh, me.” Zayn stammers, his doe eyes wide and nervous. Liam sucks in a breath, his brows furrows as he watches Zayn stumble through a sentence, and his chest hurts, because this wasn’t how they were supposed to be.

Liam and Zayn always dreamt big, they used to stay up in their dorm rooms, dreaming about owning their own firm and taking over the world. But. This was their, future, unable to talk properly and hold eye contact for longer than a second.

“Right.” Liam chokes out, finally. “Take a seat.”

Zayn moves hesitantly. It was so unfamiliar to Liam, because the Zayn he knew would do what he wanted, constantly taking Liam by surprise and crowding him into a wall, pressing kisses onto his collarbone with ease and confidence.

Zayn sits, his shoulders hunched, his brows pinched. “Liam.” He says, his voice unsure, as if he was testing out Liam’s name on his tongue after so longue of not saying it.

Liam purses his lips, keeping his expression schooled as to not showing his feelings show all over his face.

“I didn’t know that you would be – that you’d be working here.” Zayn says, “I thought. You were in Wolverhampton.”

He wants to shut this conversation down immediately, he’s not ready for it. He wants to tell Zayn that their conversations were to be strictly work-related and then kick him out. He doesn’t want to hear Zayn talk with his voice laced with shyness and nerves.

“And you were supposed to be in America,” Liam says, and his words come out as a sarcastic drawl that wasn’t intentional at all.

Zayn shrugs. “My travelling was going to come to an end eventually.” His eyes are glued to his hands, as he fiddles them on top of his lap. And it hurts so much, so much more than he could have possibly anticipated, because that’s _his_ Zayn, unable to look him in the eye and speak from his heart.

“Fuck.” Lim breathes, running a hand through his hair in frustration Zayn looks up, with a frown etched onto his face. “This is – shit – just, really weird.”

“Weird.” Zayn echoes, as if he’s not quite decided if he agrees. “A bit fucked up, actually.”

“I didn’t think I would actually ever see you again.” Liam admits, and it’s true, they might have parted with the promise that one day in the far future they’ll find each other again, but that promise was lost in the wind the minute it was made.

“Yeah, me too.” Zayn says, and he looks about at stressed as Liam feels. “Shit though, how have you been? I mean you look – yeah you look good.” Liam knows he’s not talking about this physical appearance, by the way Zayn glances around his office appreciable, he was talking about where he was at in his career now.

“I’ve been good.” Liam says, and for the most parts it was true. Liam thinks that after they broke up, he had trained himself to block everything about Zayn out of his mind, it was an awfully heart-breaking process but it worked. It had been years since Liam’s first and last thought in the morning was about Zayn. Occasionally, maybe, when he’s mixing his coffee and he regrets adding a splash of milk because the dark brown resembles Zayn’s eyes and he’s suddenly lost his appetite. “What about you?” He asks.

Zayn just nods, a wry smile on his face. “Yeah, good.”

They both kind of just pause, and gaze at each other for a moment, because their conversations have never been this stilted. It was unnerving and he wasn’t sure how to deal with it.

“How’s Harry?” He asks, suddenly, because the silence was becoming too heavy.

This time Zayn smiles wider, and Liam’s heart flutters a little. “He’s here too, in London I mean.” He says, “We live in the same building. Not the same apartment though, we decided we’ve had enough of ebbing roommates for one lifetime.”

Liam laughs at that, because he remembers how much they used to bicker when they used to room together in university. “At least he kept your half of the room clean, you slob.” He huffs out a laugh.

Zayn smiles falters a little, and Liam’s laugh dissipates into nothing and they’re back to the silence. Bringing up the past so casually obviously made Zayn uncomfortable, but Liam can’t help it if he knows the odd facts about Zayn.

“You live alone?” Zayn asks, his voice is quiet now, scratchy.

Liam shakes his head, “Nah, didn’t get that lucky. I live with Louis.”

Zayn brightens a little by that, “Really? He seems really cool.”

Liam snorts. “Yeah, cool is one word.” He says. “The other word is _annoying_.” He was joking for the most part, Louis was actually the best roommate he could ask for, even though his switching moods were impossible to keep up with and he could expertly talk Liam into doing _anything_.

Zayn smiles a little, and Liam wants to ask him so many more questions – but, he doesn’t think it’s his place anymore. He wants to know what kind of people Zayn met in his travels, what did he learn and do. He can’t though.

It occurs to him that Zayn could well have met someone on these years, falling for Zayn was the fastest and easiest thing to happen to Liam, he’s sure he can’t be the only [person to experience it. Zayn was far too attractive and intelligent to still be single. Liam is itching to find out, but he keeps his lips clamped shut.

He notices that while he was off in his own mind, Zayn’s gaze was fiercely trained on Liam’s face, he tugs at the collar of his shirt nervously, licking his lips. Zayn seems to realise and snaps out of it, his cheeks tuning a pretty pink.

“You look different.” Zayn finally says, and Liam bites the inside of his lips. He has the sudden urge to isolate himself and just cry about his pathetically devastating his love-life was, because this conversation was getting more and more unbearable by the minute.

When Liam was university, if he thought about the future, Zayn was always without a doubt beside him, but not like this. Not with them forcing smiles and conversation, with his heart feeling achingly heavy in his chest and the dire urge to just run back time to when they were both blissfully in love.

Liam knows if he sits here and continues to act like this conversation wasn’t hollowing his chest, he would definitely end up with an embarrassing amount of tears on his face. “You should get back to your office.” Liam says, and Zayn looks taken aback for just a second before he schools his features and gulps.

He nods once, pushing his chair back and standing up. “Nice to see you again.” Zayn says, his voice painfully absent of any emotion, just as if he was talking to his manager.

He realises Zayn is raising his hand up and – oh – this is where their relationship was at now. Terrible conversation _and_ formal handshakes, he was really starting to feel like Zayn’s boss already. Liam stands up and shakes Zayn’s head, with a curt nod. “Good to see you to, happy to have you on the team.” And all he can think about was how much of a lie that was, and he just wasn’t to scream it at Zayn’s perfectly pretty face, tell him to go away and find another job.

Zayn turns then, and walks out of the office, gently closing the large wooden door behind him. Liam lets out a shuddering breath, dropping his head into his hands. He realises that this was something he just had to get used to now, he couldn’t afford to lose his breath (and his mind) every time he had to interact with Zayn in the workplace.

He doesn’t think about it, just stands up and walks out of his office. Zayn’s office was, conveniently, right across his, so he just has to take a couple of steps across the hallway before he’s pushing the door open and letting himself in.

Zayn looks up sharply, looking surprised.

Liam walks up to his desk, placing one hand on it flatly. “Look, if you’re serious about this job.” He says.

“I am.” Zayn says timidly.

“Then we have to sort this out.” Liam says. “I know we have a past together, but if this is going to work, we have to put it behind us.”

“For now.” Zayn says, firmly. “I can put it behind us for now. I don’t want things to be weird between us. If that’s going to happen, we do need to talk though. Properly.”

“Right.” Liam says. The thing was, when they broke up, they got their closure, it was mutually agreed decision. And it wasn’t much of terrible and dramatic breakup, they were mature about it, swallowing back the stinging in their eyes, but staining each other’s shirts with tears anyway when they hugged it out for the last time.

He’s not sure _what_ they need to talk about, but at the same time he has a million questions for Zayn that are bubbling at the top of his throat, begging to be asked. He pulls back the leather chair that was for clients, and takes a seat on it.

“This is…much harder than I thought it would be.” Liam admits.

Zayn smiles. “I _know_. I kind of wish I was prepared for this happen, someone should have tipped me off that my new boss was also going to be my ex-boyfriend.”

Hearing Zayn say the work boyfriend send something through Liam, but he pushes it away and just smiles through it. “Yeah,” He forces out a choked laugh. “I should have helped Louis with the hiring process, at least I would have known.”

Zayn snorts this time, “Like you would have hired me if you knew.”

Liam deliberates this for a second. What would he have done? He did a good job of avoiding any thoughts of Zayn in the last few years, but that was because he thought Zayn was unreachable now, living in a foreign country. But if he knew Zayn was in London. That would change things. “I would’ve.” Liam argues, and Zayn smiles wryly.

It was comfortable for a while, sitting across Zayn and just talking. “It was a long time ago, yeah?” Zayn says, and Liam feels a pang in his chest. He nods tightly anyway. “We can work together without it being weird.” He says it like a fact, and Liam _really_ wants to believe it. “We can leave the past in the past then.”

Liam nods again. “Yeah. That would be – yeah.” He says. “Sounds good.”

“Good. Because I do plan on keeping this job.” Zayn smiles, and the way his tongue pushes at the back of his teeth is so painfully familiar Liam can’t help the ache in his chest.

He needs to get the hell out of that office. he nods quickly, “I hope it works out for you here.” He says sincerely, and he stands up. “I’ll be in my office if you need me.”

 

 

It only takes a few days, but Zayn fits in with the others effortlessly. Ashton was ecstatic he has someone else to annoy during lunch, and Louis was always ducked in a corner with him, whispering jokes and laughing into each other’s shoulders.

Eleanor and Perrie steal him away during lunch constantly, making him accompany them as they try out new restaurants and diners.

Really, the only one he doesn’t click with instantly is Liam. It doesn’t bother him, really, because it’s so much easier, just smiling once in a while when they cross paths, not having to torture himself by starting conversation.

He walks into the break room one morning to grab himself a tea, and Louis was sitting on top of the table, and Aston and Zayn on the chairs right beside him. Zayn has a hand in Ashton’s curls, making some comment about gel products as they all lean into each other comfortably.

Liam ignores them, going straight for the kettle. Louis says something, and it elicits a laugh out of Zayn. He giggles softly, but somehow it echoes around the whole room, and it feels like a punch to Liam’s stomach.

He doesn’t know wh _y,_ but hearing that familiar tinkling laugh that he was once so infatuated with was enough for his heart to drop to the bottom of his stomach, clenching almost painfully.

He pours his drink, and whirls around with is mug in his hand. He’s not jealous that he’s not the one causing Zayn to laugh from the bottom of his stomach, genuine and eye-crinkling. He’s just annoyed that they’re all loitering around here instead of working, that was all. “Don’t you guys have work to be getting on with?” He snaps. “This break room isn’t for you to slack off in.”

Zayn and Ashton look like scolded children with their wide eyes. “Sorry, Liam.” Ashton says, his voice full of that put-on innocence that Liam falls for every time.

Louis just rolls his eyes, but he gets up too, and they all trail out of the room. He doesn’t feel all too bad about it either, he was their boss, he was s _upposed_ to order them around.

He goes back to Louis’ office, because he wasn’t in the mood to sit alone surrounded by tax forms. Louis greets him with a smirk, “Don’t you have work to be getting on with?” He mocks him lightly, and Liam flips his off.

He drops on to the sofa on the side of the room, spreading his legs out in front of him and facing Louis desk. “I hate this,” He moans out, laying on his back.

“Hate what, babe?” Louis asks, distractedly, focused on the work in front of him.

“Everything.” Liam replies. “Why are you friends with Zayn, aren’t there like best friend rules about that kind of shit?”

Louis scoffs and looks up, putting his pen down. “Is that what this is about?” He has an amused smile on his face. “And I think there are, rules, I mean. But I’m not snogging Zayn, so I’m not doing any drastic rule breaking.”

Liam sighs. “You had _better_ not be snogging him.”

“You’re not still into him though – are you?”

“No,” Liam replies instantly. And it’s the truth, he’d been through hell trying to get over him, but it was over now.

“Right.” Louis says, dragging out the vowel as if he didn’t quite believe Liam.

“I’m not.” He says. “I just – I miss him, I guess.”

Louis smiles at him fondly, “He just down the hall, doll.” He says. “You can catch up with him whenever you like.”

“Yeah.” Liam says, with no real conviction. He wasn’t going to barge into Zayn’s office just because one day he was curious to know if he watched the new Spider-Man movie and wanted a detailed review of how he found it.

Louis goes back to his work, and Liam just lays there for a while. He thinks about how absurd this situation was, how even though he’s had a few days to wrap his head around it, having Zayn so close again was completely unexpected and painfully overwhelming.

He’s tugged out of his thoughts when Louis door is urgently pushed open and Ashton and Zayn tumble in with excited smiles.

“Oh, Liam, hi!” Ashton says, as soon as he spots him, a guilty look in his eyes. “We were just – um –“ He looks at Zayn for help, who looks just as helpless.

Liam just glares at them from the sofa, and he should probably straighten himself out, but he was far too comfortable just lying there. Louis looks at them with raised brows, smile tugging at him lips.

“I was going to show Benji the roof.” Ashton says, and Zayn nudges him in the ribs, muttering a quiet “quit calling me that.”

He glances at Zayn, and from down here, all he could see was his slender frame in black fitted slacks and a crisp white button up tucked into his pants. His hands were stuffed into his pockets and his gaze mostly just focused on the ground. He looks amazing, Liam thinks, his tan skin and the dark stubble on his jawline contrasting prettily with the white of the shirt.

“You want to come with?” He asks, and Louis nods immediately.

He wasn’t surprised in the slightest, Louis love for roofs was closely matched by Zayn’s. In university, he had a knack of climbing on tot the roof of whatever frat house they had stumbled in, a cigarette between in his fingers as he gazed into the black sky. It was his safe haven; he was always at his most peaceful there and it was mesmerising watching him so in his element there.

“If all your work isn’t on my desk by the end of the day, you’re all fired.” Liam says bluntly, as Louis tugs them towards the door.

“Oh relax, Li.” Louis says, “Come up with us,”

“I’m good.” Liam mumbles, waving them off. They don’t fuss too much, Louis just calls out a goodbye and closes the door behind them. It’s suffocatingly silent when he’s alone, and he lets out a groan of frustration because he can never win, can he?

He eventually does end up following the other to the roof, it was his attempt at making an effort with decreasing the hostility between him and Zayn.

The side stairs are metal and definitely violate a few health codes, he climbs to the top and pushes the door open until he’s standing on the roof. The sun is out, but it’s still pretty cold and windy, his suit jacket wasn’t doing much to keep him warm.

Louis and Ashton were sitting on the bench by the fire hydrant, right in the middle of the roof. He glances around until he spots Zayn’s figure, leaning against the wall and peering over the edge. He takes a steadying breath before he walks over, casually leaning his elbow on the wall.

Zayn has a cigarette between his lips, and his eyes have that familiar faraway look. He takes the fag out from between his lips, holding it between the two of them. “Want a drag?”

Liam doesn’t think too far into it, just takes it from Zayn’s fingers and places is between his lips, inhaling deeply. Maybe it would help calm the nerves buzzing under his skin.

Zayn doesn’t look all too impressed, a frown playing on his lips. “When did you start smoking?” He asks, looking offended.

Liam laughs, passing it back to him. “You _offered.”_

“Yeah, and you’re supposed to tell my no, while giving me the stink-eye.” Zayn informs him.

“I don’t smoke.” Liam says. “Just occasionally, when I’m stressed or anxious. Comes with the job, really.”

“Are you stressed or anxious right now?” Zayn asks, and Liam notices the way his lashes sweep across his cheekbones when he flutters them closed for a second.

Liam doesn’t answer, just turns his attention to the street below. _Stressed_ was an understatement.

 

*

 

He’s in a better mood the next morning, mostly because Eleanor brings breakfast for him from the truck across the street. He was standing by the microwave, heating up his cheesy bagel when Zayn walks in. He can’t help the immediate reaction his body has, the bundle of nerves in his chest and the way he feels slightly light-headed. It was ridiculously embarrassing.

Today his button up was white, but with little black crosses printed on them. It was incredibly cute. He grabs his food then, about to make a move when Louis stands up from the table groggily and goes to walk past Zayn.

Except he doesn’t walk past, he walks straight into him with a steaming cup of coffee. Liam’s eyes widen and Zayn lets out a pained hiss as the boiling liquid instantly seeps through his shirt and burns at his skin.

“Shit, I’m so sorry!” Louis says instantly, putting his mug down and quickly going towards the first-aid kit. If Liam’s brain was working, he would have gotten to it first.

Zayn just stands there, holding his shirt away from his skin, a pained expression on his face. “Hurry up, Louis.” He finds himself saying. Zayn looks up at him sharply, and their eyes meet for just a moment before Liam looks away.

Louis locates the burn cooling gel, and unscrew the top. Zayn unbuttons his shirt, and Liam can’t move. he can’t move his eyes away from Zayn’s chest because –well, there’s new tattoos. And his chest was so much more _defined_ than what Liam remembers, and Liam wants to snatch that gel out of Louis’ hands and spread it on Zayn’s abs himself.

He should really leave, but he doesn’t want to, not until he knows that Zayn’s alright.

Louis moves towards Zayn, “Here, I’ll do it.” He says.

Zayn just grabs it from Louis’ hands, “I can do it myself.” He snaps, squeezing a large blob onto his hands. Liam swallows down whatever thoughts threaten to seep into his mind.

He rubs the gel on his abdomen, making a quiet pained noise as he does, and Louis rubs at his forehead nervously. “Does it feel okay?” He asks.

Zayn nods. “Yeah,” He looks up at Louis with an annoyed smile. “You so owe me a shirt; I can’t walk around like this.” He doesn’t button the shirt back up, just closes it around him, and it sticks to the gel on his stomach.

Louis swings an arm around his shoulder, and they talk in hushed voices until they’re out of the break room. Liam sighs and sits down and eat his breakfast quickly.

He shouldn’t really worry about Zayn the way he was; it would probably sting like a bitch for a few days but he could handle it. Liam doesn’t need to be feeling worried about him. He does anyway.

When he goes up to the office block, Zayn is pacing around the area between their offices, a phone pressed to his ear.

“No I don’t have a spare, Harry.” He says, sounding exasperated. His gaze was lowered, so he doesn’t see Liam standing a few metres away, and Liam doesn’t want to move past him to getting to his office. “Come on, I have ironed shirts in my wardrobe, just bring one.”

And a few beats later. “Fine, you can choose the shirt. No – _not_ the pink one!”

It doesn’t look like Zayn has much arguing in him, so he just relents and goes to say goodbye, then Liam starts walking towards his door again so Zayn doesn’t see him standing three like a creep.

“Oh, sorry.” Zayn says, moving away from Liam’s door.

“No worries.” Liam replies easily. “You okay?” He asks, his eyes dropping to where his once white shirt was now dark brown and sticky with blue gel.

“Yeah, just peachy.” Zayn smiles reluctantly, he scratches the back of his neck which Liam knows is something he does when he’s nervous.

Liam just frowns, because Zayn isn’t supposed to be nervous around him. That wasn’t how they worked.

“Good, yeah, see you around.” Liam half-mumbles, trying to get the pinched look off his face and he turns around and pushes his door open. “See you round, then.” He says over his shoulder as an after-thought, because it seemed like the polite thing to do.

**(go back up and add clients)**

He spends the rest of the hour occupied with a client and not long after he leaves, the door opens again. His eyes widen when he sees a familiar head of curls peek around his door, before stepping in and closing the door behind him.

He’s gotten taller, definitely, Liam thinks. His cheeks aren’t so rounds anymore, and his hair is longer now as it falls past his eyes.

“Harry.” Liam says, trying to contain the surprise in his voice.

Harry just stares at him, then pulls a char across his desk and sits down. “Liam.” He says. He looks at Liam with consideration, his eyes raking past his face and to his shoulder and chest. He feels a little unnerved by whatever examination Harry was doing. “Shit.” He finally says, running his fingers through his hair. “I thought maybe Zayn was just fucking around when he said you were his boss.”

Liam slumps a bit, because he was just so exhausted with all this now. “Yeah.” He mutters. “It’s a bit fucked up, isn’t it?”

Harry shrugs. “Fate, is what I would call it.”

Liam scoffs, because of _course_ that would be Harry’s response. “Or karma, maybe I did something really shitty and this is how the universe want to repay me” He says, noting the bitterness in his voice, “Like, here you go Liam, let’s flip your whole world upside down by throwing your ex back into your life.”

Harry looks sympathetic at least. There was this worry etched into his forehead and it was all so familiar it made his stomach churn.

It was too much, seeing people that he had trained himself to forget about. He was good friends with Harry in university, but after the break-up Liam lost all contact with him. It was a pointless friendship to ensue, he was best friends with Zayn and it would have done more damage than good.

“It really is good to see you.” Liam says honestly, because he knows the stress etched into his forehead is giving Harry a different message. “I just – fuck, this is all so overwhelming.”

“I know.” Harry says. “This couldn’t be easy on either of you.”

“I think Zayn’s handling it okay.” Liam says, “So that’s good, at least.”

Harry laughs this time. “Handling it good, yeah. After his first day here, he came home and cried.” His eyes widen just a fraction. “Don’t tell him I told you that, he’ll skin me alive.”

Liam just lets out a shaky breath. “I don’t know what to do.” He says. “I don’t even know how to talk to him.”

Harry clicks his tongue sympathetically, “You just have to give it time, everything will settle down eventually. I think when both of you are comfortable, you would make really great friends.”

Liam nods stiffly. “Friends, yeah.”

Harry tilts his head slightly, inspecting Liam with a fond look in his eyes. “Yeah, you guys will be fine. Don’t worry about it too much.”

 

 

He spends most of the next few days stuck in his office, and not by choice this time. His planner was full of meetings with clients and he was just about sick of it. It was normal for everyone to be swamped during tax season, and Liam was always the busiest.

His last meeting ends at five in the afternoon, and his shoulders slump in relief when his final client for the day exits his office. He stands up and stretches his arms around the back of his neck, his muscles feeling cramped from sitting all day.

He was tempted to leave the last of his paperwork for tomorrow, but he knows he’ll regret that decision. He walks out of his office, heading for the side stairs, in desperate need of a breath of fresh air.

When he gets to the top, he’s not even slightly surprised to see Zayn already there, perched dangerously on the ledge with a cigarette dangling from his fingers.

Liam walks over to the edge of the building, leaning on the wall beside him. It was mostly dark out already, and the moonlight reflected on Zayn’s face, sharpening his features.

He peers down at Liam, and wordlessly offers him the pack of Marlboros he pulls out of his pocket. Liam pulls one out and places it between his lips, and Zayn leans forward while flicking on his lighter and holds it against the end of the cigarette to light it.

“Thanks.” Liam mumbles around the fag, turning his gaze towards the skyline. He doesn’t think too much about it, Zayn was being friendly, this was them paving the road to their _friendship._

Liam nudges Zayn’s hip with his elbows, and he had to tilt his arm awkwardly to reach him since he was sitting cross-legged on the wall. “Will you get down from there?” He says, sounding exasperated. Watching him lean forward every now and again was making him feel uneasy, Zayn was stupidly reckless a lot of the time, and it was always Liam’s job to reel him back in.

Zayn stubs the cigarette and flicks it to the side, before looking down at Liam with a lopsided smile. “Worried?” He says, but he turns around and jumps off the wall anyway, standing beside Liam instead.

Liam just rolls his eyes. “Just don’t fancy watching you fall five floors to your death.” He says.

Zayn laughs beside him, and Liam feels his body move against him. It makes him feel warm all over, the closeness of their bodies in the cold, and Zayn’s tinkling laugh right beside his ear.

“How were your clients today?” Liam asks, mostly because he was the boss and it was kind of his job to make sure that Zayn wasn’t having any trouble and settling into the new job well. And maybe because Liam was itching to just talk to him, about anything.

Zayn shrugs, “Fine, Louis sorted most of it out for me, since you’re avoiding me.” He says casually. He knows he was supposed to have checked in on Zayn earlier in the day, but he chickened out and made Louis do it instead.

“I wasn’t – I’m not –“

“It’s okay.” Zayn says. “I get it. This is weird, and it will take some getting used to.”

Liam nods. “Yeah. I’m sorry.” He breathes out.

“Don’t be.” Zayn says lightly. “Seriously, it’s a lot to adjust to, take your time.”

“It’s not though. It shouldn’t be. We should be able to work together as co-workers of friends or whatever.” Liam says. “I mean; we were friends before we were anything else.”

Zayn cracks a smile at this, “I can deal with friends.” He says considering. “It is going to be a bit odd though, because I _have_ seen you naked.”

“Zayn!” He gawks, but Zayn is laughing and backing away, waving one hand in the air.

“See you round.” He calls, before he disappears into the stairwell.

Liam is just left staring at the spot Zayn was just standing in, his mouth still ajar. He ends up staying up there for a little while longer, grinning to himself because maybe Harry was right, him and Zayn were going to be alright.

-

 

It takes a couple of weeks, but things do settle down with the two of them eventually. Well, their relationship was as good as it could be between ex-boyfriends. Liam doesn’t avoid him so much, he spends more time in the break room with the others, and takes time to actually conversate with Zayn in the mornings.

They don’t talk about much, and their conversation were still mostly stilted, just casual questions about how their weekend was or what their Friday night plans were. It was still an improvement, and Liam was thankful for it.

Monday morning usually meant grumpy colleagues that Liam made a point to avoid, and after collecting everyone and giving them feedback on their reports, he dismisses them back their offices.

Louis and Zayn stick around in the break room though, with half closed eyes and steaming cups of black coffees in front of them.

Louis had a rule to never book clients for Monday mornings, and Liam is sure he’s passed on his philosophy to Zayn as well.

“Rough night?” Liam asks with raised brows, looking at the two men slumped on the circular table in front of him.

“Are you kidding?” Louis mutters, “I stayed up all night watching Game of Thrones like an _idiot.”_

Liam snorts. “How wild.”

Louis nods. “Yup, just me, my TV, and a bottle of red wine.”

“I don’t even have to ask what’s wrong with you.” Liam says, looking pointedly at Zayn. “You’re always tired.”

Zayn flips him off, and Louis giggles beside him.

“You,” Liam says, pointing at Louis, “Are a terrible influence.” He’s smiling as he says it, and he shouldn’t be as fond of the two of them hanging out as he is.

“I still have to go over intern profiles today.” Louis says, standing up and walking past Liam towards the kettle, patting him on the shoulder as he passes. “Yet another task our god awful boss as pushed onto me instead of doing himself.”

Liam turns to him, frowning. “You begged me to let you do it in exchange of me taking your afternoon meetings.”

Louis looks at him pointedly. “I know. You should have offered to do both of those things. I deserve more days off.”

Liam rolls his eyes and now Louis looks at him with a sharp grin, “I’ll make sure not to accidentally hire an ex-boyfriend this time.”

He hears Zayn choke a little on his coffee before he even has time to react to Louis’ words, he’s pursing his lips in as he turns to look at Zayn, who has his head ducked in his cup and pointedly refuses to meet Liam’s eyes.

“Fuck off, Louis.” He mutters, trying to keep his voice as light as he could. He grabs his things and glares at him before leaving the room, not chancing another glance at Zayn.

 

_The worst thing about university, he thinks, are those dreadful anxiety-filled days that lead up to exams. The best thing, he thinks, is walking to your accommodation after your last exam and finding your boyfriend laying under your bedsheets semi-clothed and dishevelled._

_“Finally,” Zayn breathes out, sitting up on the bed. Liam sits down and snuggles closer to him, “How was it, babe?”_

_“Fine,” Liam says, moving his face into the crook of Zayn’s neck._

_“Good.” He smiles, and he climbs over Liam and sits on his waist, his hands easily sliding under Liam’s shirt. “Missed you.”_

_Liam snickers, “Was only gone a couple hours.”_

_Zayn pouts at him childishly, “You haven’t looked at anything except your books in the last two weeks,” He groans, tugging Liam’s shirt up. “I was starting to forget what your skin felt like under my fingers.”_

_Liam laughs, eyes crinkling at the sides and he wraps his hands at the nape of Zayn’s neck, pulling him into a messy kiss. “I missed you too.” He mumbles against his mouth. “Now let me get you out of those pants.”_

_Zayn is eager to push off his sweats, his shirt already discarded somewhere. He tugs at Liam’s jeans, pulling them all the way off and carefully propping himself between his thighs. He peers up at Liam, who pulls his shirt over his shoulders breathlessly, already feeling dizzy even though Zayn has hardly touched him._

_“I’ll take care of you now, yeah?” Zayn says, peering up at him, and Liam just nods frantically, too choked up to speak._

_Zayn’s tongue drags across the waistband of his boxers, his fingers gently pulling them down. He makes soft humming noises as he moves his mouth lower, missing where Liam desperately wants them and tonguing at the inside of his thighs instead._

_“Zayn, please,” His voice is embarrassingly choked up, but he can’t help the way his body reacts to Zayn’s touch. He lets out a quiet gasp when he feels Zayn’s breath ghosting over him, and he can’t help the keening noise that escapes his throat when Zayn’s mouth slides over the head of his cock, wet and warm._

_Liam can’t tear his gaze away from where Zayn’s mouth was wrapped around him, and he cards his fingers through his dark hair, urging his forward. He tugs at the longer strands a little, and Zayn moans around his dick, his mouth sliding lower._

He sits up a little straighter when he hears footsteps right outside his office, then the door opens and Zayn walks in. He comes over by the table, easily flopping down onto one of the leather chairs with a smile.

“Hi,” He says, leaning back with his hands behind his head.

Liam raises his brows at him. They were definitely getting more comfortable, but this was new. They still hadn’t reached the phase where they could just casually act like friend. “Hey, Zayn.”

Zayn just stares at him for a while, and he’s used to it, and he knows he does the same thing. It’s just so strange seeing someone you were so close to after so many years, and sitting there staring at their face to pick out features that are different was just the norm between them at this point.

“You pluck your brows.” Zayn states finally, shifting in his seat to get a better look at Liam’s face.

“No, I don’t.” Liam deadpans.

“You do!”

“Maybe my face has just grown into them.” Liam says, and he tries so hard to hide the amusement in his voice.

Zayn just narrows his eyes slightly, like he doesn’t quite believe Liam. “Oh yeah, I came here because we’re going out later on to this new Thai place a few blocks away.” He says. “And you never come out with out.”

“Because I’m busy.” He says, looking pointedly at the stack of papers on his desk.

“But you love Thai food!”

“No, _you_ love Thai food.” Liam breathes out a laugh. “I just pretended, because you were way to passionate about noodles.”

Zayn looks taken aback, and partly offended. “Are you joking right now? I made you fried rice and spicy shrimp at least monthly! For three years!”

Liam winces, “Too spicy.”

“When you find my resignation letter on your desk tonight, don’t be surprised.” Zayn says, standing up. Liam can’t hold back his laugh, and Zayn just stands there for a moment, glowering down at him.

He stomps out of the room, and Liam just sits there grinning to himself. He feels less tense, somehow, just because of the light jokes between them and casual conversation, it was a drastic improvement from feeling sick every time he saw Zayn.

He eventually gets dragged out to lunch with the others, he drives himself and Ashton while Louis takes the others in his car. He’s pretty much done with the whole the whole thing when he climbs out of his car and sees Zayn slip out of the car in front of him, his white button up hugging his slender chest perfectly, he hair pushed back messily.

He has an easy smile on his face, and Liam doesn’t quite understand why, but he’s glad when he seen him reciprocate the teasing from Louis because Zayn never had an easy time coming out of his shell. He was comfortable here though, and it was relieving for Liam.

Eleanor loops her arm around Zayn’s and chats animatedly about something or another, and Liam trails behind them. They get a table for six, and before he can even make the decision to sit far away from Zayn, Louis comes up from behind him and puts his hands on his shoulders, gently pushing him down onto the chair in the corner.

Zayn smiles at him from across, and Liam forces one back. He turns his head to look for Louis to shoot him a glare, who sits on the other end with Perrie on one side and Eleanor across him.

“Mango sticky rice? As in mango in rice?” Ashton asks, peering at his menu.

Liam looks at Zayn, who just rolls his eyes. He tunes out most of the conversation, and just fiddles with the fork in front of him instead, because sitting this close to Zayn was making him nervous. He was pretty he’s sweating under his blazer, and he can definitely hear his heart thrumming in his chest.

He chances a few glances at Zayn, who looks completely in his element, leaning back on his chair and conversing with the girls with a careless grin on his face.

He lets Louis order for him, and isn’t as responsive as everyone else when a plate full of food is put in front of him. He smiles when he’s directly spoken to, and even tries to act like he’s enjoying himself, when quite frankly all he wanted was to be as far away from Zayn as possible.

He doesn’t know what it is, they should be _okay_ by now, but seeing Zayn all the time with his familiar soft eyes and gentle smile was torture.

“You,” He hears Zayn say. Liam looks up to see him leaning over the table, “Don’t deserve this.” He swipes a spring roll from his plate, waving it in his face before dipping it in sauce taking a bite out of it.

He’s not breathless, looking at Zayn push his tongue out and swipe at the sauce or the way his lips move when he carefully bites at the crispy roll. He’s not 15 years old who gets a boner when the wind changes direction, but somehow he was sitting here willing away his semi in the middle of a restaurant.

“You alright?” Zayn asks, brows furrowed.

“Yeah,” Liam replies quickly. He wants to looks away, but Zayn’s looking at him carefully, eyes lidded and intense and – _fuck_. All he could think about in that moment was being twenty, lying in his bed with Zayn in between his legs looking up at him with heavy eyes and his lips wrapped around Liam’s cock.

He tries focusing on the food in front of him, but his hands feel clammy and he’s too overwhelmed to even be in such close proximity with Zayn.

Their break is only an hour long, and thankfully it passes by quick enough and Liam is easily able to avoid Zayn for the rest of the day.

When he gets home that evening, he goes straight to his bed and slipping his hand under his boxers isn’t even a conscious decision. He lets out a breathy sound, and when he closes his eyes he can see Zayn sweaty and writing on the bedsheets underneath him, begging Liam to touch him.

 

-

 

Louis hints at it all the time, constantly lets Liam know that he thinks its ridiculous that Zayn and Liam don’t try for a relationship again. He doesn’t get it though, he wasn’t around when he was heartbroken and alone because Zayn wasn’t around. The type of dependency they had with each other meant that when they were apart, it was like half of their heart had been ripped out their chest.

And getting over the heartbreak, that was a lengthy process that Liam never wants to ever go through again. He did everything to make sure that every romantic and sexual feeling he held for Zayn was diminished, and it eventually worked.

That was the most terrifying part of all of this, the threat of after all this time all the feelings he’s buried deep inside him try to submerge again. It was a terrifying thought, actually, and Liam thinks it’s probably why he finds it easier to keep his distance from Zayn.

If Liam starts feeling things for him again, it would only lead to more heartbreak that he just wasn’t ready to deal with.

It was hard not to fall over himself when Zayn laughs or smiles or when his trousers hugged his thighs perfectly, but he was dealing.

Things start going a little wrong the next Monday, when Louis brings the new intern into his office. “You remember Ryan, yeah?” Louis asks, gently pushing the boy next to him closer to the table. “You read his file last week.”

Liam nods, and the boy nervously smiles. He was shorter than him, with wavy brown hair and hazel coloured eyes, moving with uncertainty and hesitancy.

They talk for a while, and Liam doesn’t doubt that he’ll fit in with the other for the next few weeks. He takes Ryan down to the break room, where he knows a handful of his colleagues would be at this time.

“Everyone.” He says loudly, and the several people in the room turn to look at them. “This is Ryan.” He gently pushes him forward, much like Louis had done earlier. “He’s an intern with Richardson and Gold and part of his program includes a two-week internship with us.”

There’s a chorus of hello’s, and then everyone turns back to what they were doing. In that moment, Zayn slides off his stool and walks past them to the door, mumbling a “Hey.” To the intern.

Someone drags Ryan away to show him around and Liam takes a seat on the table beside Louis, who’s looking at him incredulously. “Did you see that?”

“See what?” Liam asks, raising his brows.

 “His hey.” Luis says, like it was obvious and Liam was an idiot for not knowing. “Hey.” He repeats, deepening his voice and putting on an awful imitation of his accent. “All low and sultry like, that’s Zayn for ‘I want to bang you ASAP’.”

“No. it isn’t.” Liam says, narrowing his eyes.

He feels a hand on his shoulder, and Ashton leans down between the two of them. “Is this about Zayn wanting to bang the new guy?”

Louis nods solemnly, and Liam scowls at the two of them. Zayn was not into the new intern, he knows his tell signs because he had been on the receiving end of them for _years,_ and what the hell did Louis know about him? The guy wasn’t even Zayn’s type, he likes his men broader and more muscular than _that_ guy.

“Look at him,” Louis says, watching Liam like he was a zoo exhibit. “Racking his brain at a hundred miles per hour trying to rationalise his jealousy.”

Liam wasn’t jealous. He doesn’t even realise his jaw his clenched until it starts aching a little, but he ignores and pushes back his chair. He just looks a Louis with a threatening look before leaving the break-room.

He wasn’t going to entertain Louis and his ridiculous theories which were so completely untrue, and he was only angry because there are rules about relationships in the workplace. One of the being: don’t fucking do it.

That afternoon, Zayn pops into his office when he’s buried in paperwork with a bag of food and casually takes a seat across the table. “You missed lunch.” He states, placing the bag in front of him.

Liam blinks up Zayn, and then to the bag on the table. “Thank you.” He says, instead of the protest that he wanted to make.

Zayn just smiles, blindingly bright, before he stands up and disappears from the room.

 

 

The next day, things aren’t much better, mostly because the first thing he sees in the morning is Zayn sitting on a chair with Ryan beside him, laughing at something with his hand on the other man’s thigh.

His lip twitches a little at that, and he tries to ignore it as he prepares his coffee, but Zayn’s cheeks are pink with a blush and Ryan is leaning into his shoulder.

He finally snaps, turning to face them properly “I don’t pay you to sit around all day.”

Zayn looks surprised, his eyes widening. Ryan just looks terrified. “Aren’t you supposed to be shadowing Louis? I don’t see him here anywhere.” He says, looking at the intern in annoyance.

“I’m sorry,” He says immediately, standing up. He scurries out of the room, leaving Zayn there alone. Zayn just looks at him, but Liam doesn’t say anything, just glares at him with pinched brows and stalks out of the room without his coffee.

He knows his annoyance wasn’t motivated by work related things, as much as he wants to convince himself that was the case. He was pissed off because things were mildly _okay_ between Zayn and himself, and he didn’t want this new guy coming in and interrupting everything.

He doesn’t know what to make of it, their quiet smoke breaks on the roof or the jokes they share in the break room, and he definitely doesn’t know what to make of Zayn bringing him lunch yesterday. He wants to convince himself it was a friendly gesture, but it was so familiar to him, back in university when Zayn used to go out of his way to make sure Liam had eaten when he was over-working himself in the library in exam season – _that_ wasn’t just a friendly gesture.

He’s only in his office for a few several minutes before Louis barges in. “Ugh, what’s the smell?” He says, “Reeks of jealousy.”

“Get out, Louis. I’m being serious.” Liam says, his voice stony. He wasn’t in the mood.

“Oh I know you are, babe.” Louis says, “I’m just here to remind you that this _is_ your workplace, not a nightclub. You can’t piss on people to assert your dominance.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” He snaps impatiently.

“Zayn.” He says it likes it’s obvious. “You don’t have a claim on him. This needs to _stop.”_ His voice is more gentle now, but he could still hear the sternness there.

Louis was right, he knows that, but he hasn’t _done_ anything drastic to warrant this lecture. He’s allowed to tell off the people that he’s in charge of for not working up to his standards. Louis seems to get this, though, and he just sighs at him.

“I just don’t want you to cross any lines later on, you know?” Louis says, and Liam just nods because it’s what’s expected of him and he just wants this conversation to be over. “It’s like, he’s going to be interested in people that aren’t you and I don’t want you to flip your shit every time it happens.”

“Okay, Louis. I get it.” He snaps. “Thank you for taking time out of your day to share your thoughts with me.”

Louis just sighs again, and walks back out of the room.

 It only takes him a few hours of rigorous work for him to realise that yeah, maybe he was just being an ass for no apparent reason. Well obviously there was a reason, just not one that he wanted to dwell on for too long. It was all he did lately, push away any feelings for Zayn that started to resurface and pretend they were never there.

He walks to Louis’ office with granola bar in hand as a peace offering (it was the only thing he could find in the break room) and when he pushes the door open he’s somehow more annoyed than he was in the morning.

Louis is doing his work, and the couch in his office is occupied. Zayn’s leaning close to Ryan’s ear, whispering something with their legs pressed together, but they jump apart the second they see Liam.

He just swallows down whatever snapped remark he was going to make, because this was okay. It was _fine._ Zayn can do what he wants, Liam doesn’t have a claim on him. Not anymore, at least.

“Hey,” He says, smiling tightly. He hears Louis snort from his desk, and Liam slides down onto the one of the chairs. He turns around a bit, to face the two men on the couch, who were now sitting with their hands on their laps rather than each other’s thighs and shoulders like they were previously.

“You know I need your reports on my desk by tonight, right?” Liam says, looking pointedly at Zayn.

He nods, “Yeah, I’m almost done. I can have them with you in like, less than hour.”

Liam nods, and turns back to Louis. “How can I help you today, Mr. Payne?”

“You turning your office into a social hub, or what?” Liam asks, gesturing to the sofa behind him.

Louis just rolls his eyes, “They’re my protégées, Liam. I’ve taken them under my wing.”

“You’ve got Ryan colour co-ordinating your files.” He hears Zayn deadpan from behind them. Liam rolls his eyes.

“Organisation, Zayn, it’ll come in useful in the workplace.” Louis says with a click of his tongue. “Also keeping spare shirts in your office.”

“ _No_ one keeps spare shirts!” Zayn protests.

“I do.” Liam says, with a shrug. “Never know when they could come in handy.”

“This is why Liam’s the boss.” Louis says. “Now everyone get out, I have a client coming in ten.”

 

His zen attitude lasts for about oh, half a day? He doesn’t’ know what it was, but seeing Zayn every morning with that same relaxed smile, while Liam was practically burning inside was making him resent him. Why was this eating him up the way it was and not affecting Zayn at all? And then seeing him sitting with the intern just flipped a switch inside Liam’s head and all common sense leaves his body.

“Right.” He says, slamming down a pile of files onto the table. The staff that were already in the room huddle round a little, and a few people come in from where they were lingering in the hallways. Feedback on the reports was a routine procedure and it was usually light-hearted, unless someone screws up majorly, Liam didn’t’ want that to change but he let his frustration that morning do the talking.

He gives out most of the files, giving necessary feedback where necessary, until he gets to Zayn. “This,” He says, slapping the file onto the table in front of him. “Does not meet the standards you are expected to uphold in this company.”

Zayn looks up at him, startled. His eyes are wide, and the lighting in the room reflects off them, making them look almost honey coloured. Even when Liam was angry, all he could think about was how devastatingly beautiful he was.

“I –what?” He asks, glancing down at the file nervously. A few people murmur, but they scatter away while constantly glancing their way.

“A five-year-old could have written a better report than this.” He snaps, “You need to up your game, if this job means anything to you.”

“I don’t—“

“If you spent more time doing your work,” He says angrily, and his voice is too loud, he can tell by the way Zayn flinches slightly. “And wasting less time on pointless shit, we wouldn’t have to have this conversation.”

Liam turns on his heel and leaves after that, trying to block out the image of Zayn’s distressed features. He was supposed to feel better after yelling, but his stomach feels uneasy like he was about to be _sick_.

He can hear Louis hot on his tail, and he wants to slam the door of his office shut between them to blow off more steam, but Louis barges in before he can do that.

Louis looks _pissed_ , and Liam shouldn’t be that scared of someone who was smaller than him, but he still finds himself taking a step back.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Liam?” Louis seethes, “What the hell was that back there?”

Liam narrows his eyes, “What was it? I was giving feedback as I always do.”

Louis scoffs, “I looked over his report yesterday, there was nothing wrong with it.”

“It was sloppy.” Liam says with a tone of finality, but Louis doesn’t accept.

“That’s fucking bullshit, Liam, you _know_ how much this job means to him. He gets here before anyone else, puts in his hours and gets all his shit done.” He snaps, and he looks so genuinely angry at him that Liam can’t help but wither under his gaze a little. “Stop acting like a possessive jealous ex-boyfriend and get a _grip_.”

He wants to protest and yell at Louis for taking Zayn’s side but he knows how ridiculously childish he sounds. There’s a tight knot of frustration in his chest, and he doesn’t know how to relieve himself of the tension that’s seeped inside him.

“Fix this.” He says, before storming out of the room.

Liam has no intention of ‘fixing’ anything, he was too busy being a wreck and trying to understand what this whirlwind of emotion meant to him.

Zayn’s actions shouldn’t bother him, not if he doesn’t have any feelings for him like he claims, but as soon as he sees him with someone else he feels like something inside him is breaking. He thought he was done feeling torn inside because of Zayn, that it was in the past, but he was spectacularly wrong.

 

_It was nearing 2am when Liam walks into the kitchen of Zayn’s flat, the other boy stands with his back facing Liam, mixing something in a pan._

_Liam walks over to him, gently sliding his hands around Zayn’s waist and propping his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder. “Smells good,” He says, looking at the red sauce that would inevitably be too spicy for him to enjoy._

_Zayn just hums in response._

_“You still mad at me?” Liam mumbles against Zayn’s neck, pressing a soft kiss at the exposed skin there._

_“’M not mad.” Zayn replies._

_“Really,” Liam replies dryly. “Then why’s your half of the bed been empty for the last two hours.”_

_Zayn turns his head a little and presses a kiss to Liam’s jaw. “Babe, if I was mad, I promise you, you would know.” He says. “I’m just worried, is all.”_

_Liam lifts his hands higher, encircling Zayn’s wrists so he lets go of the pot and spoon. He holds him by the waist then, turning him around so his back was pressed against the counter. “You have nothing to be worried about.” Liam says, leaning forward so their bodies were pressed together, their faces only inches apart. “I’ll only be gone for a few months, then I’ll be straight back here. With you.”_

_Zayn nods, and lifts his hand to brush Liam’s hair out of his face. “I’ll miss you.”_

_“You won’t even notice I’m gone,” Liam promises, “We’ll ace this long distance thing, you’ll skype me every night, yeah?”_

_Zayn breathes out a laugh._

_Liam leans forward and presses a kiss to his neck. “You’ll put on a show for me, yeah? And I’ll lay in whatever shitty bed that firm provide for me and I’ll wrap a hand around my-“_

_“Liam!” Zayn scolds, a laugh bubbling out of him. “Be serious, this is_ serious.”

_Liam pouts. “What do I have to tell you to get you to relax a little?”_

_“Tell me that you’ll take care of yourself, and you’ll call, and you won’t fall in love with the receptionist with the pretty hair.”_

_Liam laughs, nuzzling into Zayn’s neck. “Now who’s not being serious.” He says, and Zayn makes a distasteful sound. “Never seen anyone with prettier hair than yours.” He pulls away a little, looking at Zayn. “It’s you and me ‘til the very end, yeah?”_

_Zayn snorts, a warm smile on his face. “Cornball.”_

_“You love me.”_

_“I do. So much.” Zayn says. “Now explain to me again why you’re doing this.”_

_Liam sighs, despite the fond smile on his face. “This internship will help me get a job easy as soon as I graduate.” He says, possibly for the fourth time that week. “Which will be necessary if you want us to live in a big house with the seven dogs you plan to keep.”_

_“And a Range Rover.” Zayn points out._

_“You can’t even_ drive _.”_

_Zayn looks at him with a faux puzzled expression. “Who says it’s for driving? Have you seen the interior? I just want to do you on the backseats.”_

_“Just the backseat? Where’s your imagination at Zed? You can have me on the bonnet, the roof, everywhere.”_

 

Liam doesn’t budge from his office the entire day, he just sits and wonders when his life reached this level of pathetic. Louis was definitely right about the jealous ex-boyfriend thing, and at least Liam could admit at that.

He wasn’t so deep in his own denial anymore to deny he had feelings for Zayn, so that was a slight improvement. Expect for the fact that it was eating at his insides relentlessly and it was so overwhelming sometimes he feels like he can’t breathe.

He ends up leaving work early that day, avoiding everyone on his way out and telling Perrie to get Louis to cover for him because he was feeling unwell (he was too pathetic to talk to his best friend himself, apparently).

When Louis arrives home a few hours later, he just mumbles a half-hearted greeting to Liam who was sprawled across the sofa and closes himself in his room.

Liam sinks into the leather a bit, because the animosity between himself and Louis was wildly unfamiliar and it made him feel like his stomach was in knots.

It was about more than Louis being god friend’s with Zayn now, he was standing up for him because Liam was wrong and was being completely unfair. He couldn’t blame him for that.

He gets up after a while, gently pushing Louis’ bedroom door open. Louis looks up at him from his laptop, and shuffle to the side a little to make room for Liam on his bed. He sighs in relief at that, because he half expected Louis to tell him to piss off.

Liam crawls onto the bed, and sits with his shoulder pressed against Louis’ shoulder.

“Want to talk about it?” Louis says, with a mouthful of biscuits.

“Not really.” Liam mumbles, adjusting a little to lay down.

Louis just nods. He doesn’t say anything when Liam’s eyes close after a while, and when he eventually drifts off to sleep in a bed that isn’t his.

 

The next day he ends up staying at the office for hours past their usual nine-to-five schedule, to make up for the day before. He keeps to himself most of the day, only answering queries of colleagues who visit his office. other than that, he doesn’t make an effort to check up people too see how they were progressing. A couple of times throughout the day he gets the motivation to visit Zayn’s office, maybe talk to him and apologise for being such a dick, but he talks himself out of it every time. He was being a coward, and he knew it.

 It’s almost eight in the evening when he steps out of his office, it was quiet and the lights were dimmed, but Liam is caught off guard when the office across him still has the lights flicked on.

He pushes the door open, and Zayn sits by his desk, his head ducked and one hand tousled in his hair. He looks up, startled, when Liam walks in.

His eyes are wide and worried, and Liam remembers teasing him about his uncanny resemblance to Bambi back when they were younger. The thought doesn’t make him smile though, because Zayn looks exhausted, if the dark circles under his eyes were anything to do by.

“What are you still doing here?” Liam asks, brows furrowed. He knows the answer to that question, and the guilt is tugging at him mercilessly and he kind of just wants to cry at the way Zayn sinks lower into his chair like he was worried about Liam going off on one again.

“Just making sure my work is up to scratch.” Zayn replies, his voice soft and scratchy with fatigue. He casts his eyes away from Liam and back onto the papers in front of him.

“Stop. Fuck, stop.” Liam surprises himself with the force of frustration in his voice, as he leans over and slaps a hand on the papers to prevent Zayn from doing anything. “There’s nothing wrong with your work, go home. _Please._ ”

“I don’t understand.” Zayn looks up at him, his expression exasperated.

“I was being an ass the other day.” Liam says, “Your reports are always really good, and I’m sorry for making you think otherwise.”

Zayn looks at him, dumbfounded.

“I’m really sorry.” He tries again, with a sigh. He glances at the clock, and he floods with guilt again because Zayn’s been here almost 12 hours probably for the second day in a row all because of Liam.

Zayn runs his fingers through his long hair, whatever style he had done in the morning completely wrecked. He _looks_ kind of wrecked to, with the subtle frown lines in his forehead and the frown on his face.

Liam just sighs, turns and grabs Zayn’s coat from where it was handing on a peg on the side of a cupboard. Zayn stands and takes it from Liam’s hands, slipping it on.

“Zayn,” Liam says, his voice gentle in an attempt to coax a response out of him.

“What is it, Liam?” Zayn asks, sounding completely fed up.

“I’m sorry, okay? I’m really sorry.”

Zayn just breathes out, his eyes fluttering closed for a second. “It’s okay.” He says, after a pause. “We’re both dealing with this differently, I guess.”

“It’s fucking hard.” Liam grumbles, finally eliciting half a smile from Zayn. “You should have called me out on it.” He says, “I was being an asshole and you didn’t deserve it at all.”

“Couldn’t though, could I?” Zayn says, walking around the table. “I can’t lose this job.”

Liam just looks at him with a sceptical expression. “You don’t really think I would fire you, do you?” He asks.

Zayn laughs, “Honestly, I’m surprised you haven’t done it already. Working with your ex is a fucking nightmare.” He says, a teasing smile on his face.

Liam huffs out a laugh, rolling his eyes. “C’mon, let me drive you home.” He offers, opening the office door and letting Zayn walk out first. “You still haven’t learnt how to drive, have you?”

Zayn makes a face at him, “Hell no, I’m willing to Uber my way through the rest of my life.” He says. “And I can make my own way home, I don’t live far.”

“It’s the least I can do.” Liam insists, as they walk down the stairs and past the front desk. “You look about ready to collapse.”

“Wonder whose fault that is.” Zayn grumbles. His voice is light but the hard lines etched into his face show just how frustrated and exhausted he was.

Liam looks at him apologetically. “You can have tomorrow off, if you want.”

“I don’t want you to give me days off, Liam. Just want you to talk to me when you’re upset instead of lashing out.”

“Could try that, I guess.” Liam replies sheepishly. He leads Zayn to his car, and ignores the man’s protests.

Sitting behind the wheel with Zayn in the passenger seat sends a weird sensation through him, the familiarity of the scene was almost painful. He knows Zayn’s feels it to, by the way he has his gaze resolutely fixed on the road, and his bottom lip caught between his teeth.

They sit in silence for the most part, other than Zayn rattling off directions and Liam humming in response. He parks outside the large block of flats, and watches discretely as Zayn twists a little to get his seatbelts undone.

“Do you want to come in for a bit?” Zayn asks, and Liam blinks in surprise.

“That’s probably not a good idea.” Liam replies, even though now he was kind of dying to go in and just relish any opportunity given to be close to him.

“C’mon, just for a cup of tea.” He says, opening his door. Liam just sighs and follows his lead.

They take the stairs up, and Liam watches as Zayn digs around his blazer pockets for his keys. When they go in, the lights are already on and there’s light music coming from inside, as well as the smell of something being cooked.

Liam looks over at Zayn curiously, “I thought you lived alone?” He asks.

“I do.” Zayn rolls his eyes, “I just don’t think anyone gave Harry that memo.”

Liam laughs at that, because that does sound a lot like Harry. As if right on cue, his voice calls out, “You’re back, about _time.”_

They kick off their shoes at the entrance and walk into the living room. “Yeah, brought a guest too.”

Harry pops out of the kitchen which was on the right side of the room, a wooden spoon in hand. His eyes widen when he sees him, “Liam!”

“Hey, Harry.” Liam smiles. Zayn gestures towards the sofa, and Liam takes a seat, While Zayn flops down onto the single seater, his legs hanging over the armrest.

Harry tuts when he walks over to them, brushing Zayn’s hair out of his eyes. “Look at the state of you.” He says, then turns to look at Liam. “I hope you’re not working him too hard, he’s fragile.”

“He is.” Zayn whines, “You should see how he bosses everyone around from his office.”

“Hey,” Liam protests, “Louis’ the bossy one.”

Zayn just looks at him pointedly. Harry laughs and pats at Zayn’s head gently, and Liam kind of feels like he’s intruding but he’s also kind of aching for Harry to care for him like that again. “Go and change, Zed, then I’ll bring the food out.”

Zayn does as he’s told, and pulls away from the sofa and disappears into one of the doors at the far end of the living room.

“Update me on your life then, Li.” Harry calls out, as he walks to the kitchen.

“Uh, nothing much to update you on, mate.” Liam replies.

He hears Harry bustling a bit and then he comes back with a dish of pasta, “Really?” He wiggles is eyebrows at Liam a bit. “No girlfriends? Boyfriends?”

“No,” He replies dryly, as Zayn appears again and makes his way towards them. He’s wearing a hoodie that’s too big for him and basketball shorts that look silky and easy to tug down but that’s not what he’s thinking about when Zayn sits beside him.

“Really? Pretty boy like you can’t land a date?” Zayn asks, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“I can, just don’t want to.” He mutters, trying to hide the blush in his cheeks from the compliment. This throwaway compliment was nothing compared to the filthy words Zayn’s whispered into his ear before, but he still reacts to it like a preteen.

He ends up spending most of his time their talking to Harry and catching up, their finished plates of food abandoned on the table.

Zayn nods off to sleep beside him, and Liam turns to look at him, biting the inside of his lip and trying to fight off the fond look off his face. Liam always thought Zayn looks so much younger when he sleeps, his features soft and innocent looking, and now even with the scruff of hair on his jawline he looks impossibly delicate.

When he turns to look at Harry, he looks at Liam with a curious look on his face, and Liam does his best to school his features into that of indifference.

“He always does this.” Harry says, motioning to Zayn’s curled up body on the sofa.

Liam can definitely agree to that; he can’t even count the amount of times he’s come home from class to find Zayn passed out on the sofa with the telly playing or a half finished plate of food on his lap.

“I should go now.” Liam says, looking at the watch on his wrist. It was nearing 11pm and he hardly noticed the hours pass by sitting between the two of them.

Harry nods. “You should visit more often.” He says, standing up. “We’re not strangers.”

“Yeah, I know,” Liam says, with a sigh. He stands up and looks at Zayn again, wondering how their relationship crumbled down to this.

“It’s hard, yeah?” Harry says softly, and Liam just looks at him with wide and say eyes.

“Impossibly hard.” Liam replies. “I always thought it was going to be me and him, you know?”

“Yeah, I know.” Harry says. “He misses you too, you know.”

“I kind of wish we could just go back to how we were before but – everything is so different now. So much time has passed.” Liam says. “I’m not even sure if I even know this version of Zayn.”

“The circumstances have changed, not the person.” Harry tuts, as he gently kicks at Zayn’s shins. “Dude, get up. Your bed is waiting.”

“You know how hard it is to get him to budge once he’s down.” Liam says.

“If the circumstances were different, you’d just throw him over your shoulder like a ragdoll and I wouldn’t have to waste half my night trying to wake the idiot up.” Harry says.

Liam smiles at him sadly, and his heart aches a little just by watching the two of them in front of him. “I’ll see you later then, yeah?” He says, putting a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “It was good talking to you.”

 

 

_He was planning on waiting up for Zayn to get back from whatever party Harry had dragged him too, but it was a few hours past midnight and Liam’s eyes were starting to droop with tiredness. He shucks off his clothes and slips under his bedsheets just when the door of his dorm room is pushed open with a loud bang._

_“Whoops,” Zayn giggles, making a show of closing the door as quietly as he could. His cheeks were pink, and he stumbles towards the bed with unfocused eyes._

_“Hey,” Liam says as he sits up, and crawls over to the edge and helps Zayn onto the bed._

_“’M a little drunk.” He leans in to Liam’s neck and whispers, as if it was a secret._

_“A little?” Liam asks, as he helps Zayn out of his t-shirt. He leans forward, grabbing Liam’s face and kisses him a little messily, and Liam can’t help but breathe out a laugh at how sloppy his kisses were as he moved down to his neck._

_Zayn was a pretty ambitious drunk, Liam had always thought, he knew what he wanted and didn’t let anyone stop him. Tonight was no different._

_“Leeyum.” Zayn whines, holding Liam by the shoulders and manoeuvring him to lay back on the bed._

_“Zayn.” Liam laughs, grabbing him by the waist in an attempt to hold him still. “Stop, look at how drunk you are.”_

_“’M not, I lied.” He mumbles, wriggling out of Liam’s grip and pressing kisses down his chest. “C’mon, been thinking about this all day.”_

_Liam’s skin feels burning hot, but he shifts again and tries to sit up, just as Zayn grabs him around his boxers. Zayn looks up and snickers at him, “Look how hard you are,” He says, his words stringing together and sounding jumbled._

_Liam had no problem using his larger physique to his advantage and grabbing Zayn by the waist and pinning him down onto the bed on his back, holding him down by his arms. “Go. To sleep.” He instructs. “We’ll do whatever you want in the morning when you’re not drunk off your ass.”_

_“Whatever?” Zayn asks, eyes lidded as he looks up at Liam, one of his hands struggling to reach at Liam’s thigh in an attempt to grope him again._

_“Yeah.” Liam promises._

_Zayn makes a satisfied sound at that, so Liam rolls off him and lays down beside him. “Kinda liked being pressed down into the mattress by you,” Zayn mumbles, curling into Liam’s side and placing on hand on his chest._

_Liam snorts, “Drunk Zayn is incredibly annoying.”_

_“Sober Liam is – is –“ Zayn squints as he tries swimming through the alcohol intoxicating his mind to find a word. “Dumb.”_

_“Dumb.” Liam repeats._

_Zayn hums, pleased with his choice of words. He holds Liam beside him with a tight grip, his eyes fluttering closed. “Love you, Li.” He mumbles. “Can’t believe you’re making me wait ‘til marriage.”_

_Liam let’s out an unexpected laugh, and it shakes Zayn from where his head was propped against Liam’s chest, and he makes a disgruntled sound._

_“I’m making you wait ‘til tomorrow, babe.” Liam corrects._

_“We’re gettin’ married tomorrow?” Zayn asks, his words still running together._

_“No babe, you’re going to class tomorrow.” Liam says, “We’ll get married afterwards.”_

_“Yeah?” Zayn asks, “When?”_

_Liam turns his head a little and leans down a little to press a kiss to Zayn’s forehead. “After we get that big house of ours.”_

_Zayn lets out a happy sound, closing his eyes again._

_And the next morning when Zayn wakes up with a stiffy, Liam has no objections to sliding under the covers and wrapping his lips around him until he falls apart in his mouth._

 

 

The next week he feels a lot calmer, he doesn’t snap at Zayn or the intern every time they so much as glance at each other and he spends less time brooding in his office.

He goes out for lunch with Zayn a couple of times too, and it’s completely platonic, the way one of them covers the bill and bump shoulders when they walk up the street back to the office.

Sometimes they laugh over memories of the stupid things they did in university, but most of the time they try to steer clear of topics of the past. The waves of nostalgia he feels when he’s sitting close to Zayn are overwhelming in the most distressing way, but he pushes it away because he wasn’t going to ruin the friendship they had managed to salvage together by picking up broken pieces of their relationship.

That particular Monday though, he feels a little high strung because Zayn was sauntering around the place with a half sleeved pinstriped buttons up that wrapped around is chest perfectly and his bare arms were so much more toned than Liam remembers and Liam kind of wants to be manhandled by them. His hair was pushed up, with one strand falling out of place onto his forehead, and Liam was itching to run his fingers through it, just to remember how soft they used to feel.

He doesn’t do any of that though, just excuses himself when Zayn walks into the break room in the morning and Louis lets out a low whistle that he ignores.

A little while later Zayn comes into his office and asks to use the printer, since his was out of ink and Liam just sits on his seat stealing glances at him the entire time. He’s not staring at Zayn’s ass and admiring how perfect his thighs looked in his fitted pants, when he turns around and catches Liam staring. He drops his head immediately, going back to scribbling notes on a paper and hoping his cheeks weren’t as red hot as they were feeling.

“Thanks, _Lee_ -yum.” Zayn drawls out in a sing-song voice as he grabs his pile of papers, and throws a smile over his shoulder before he leaves the office.

He doesn’t get a chance to respond because his brain was ten steps behind, is mind usually just stutters to a halt anytime Zayn was around, that wasn’t an unusual occurrence. He gulps a little when the door of his office closes shut, because he’s a complete mess when it comes to Zayn Malik, and he is so utterly fucked.

He’s antsy and irritated the entire time he meets with his clients, and he can’t manage to shake the feeling off. He ends up getting the intern to run errands for him because he wasn’t in the mood to trek around the building collecting files.

He’s just finishing off auditing for a client when he realises he sent Ryan off twenty minutes ago to get the financial spreadsheets he needed from the file room. He makes an annoyed sound as he pushes his chair back and stands up, because he can’t finish this without them and interns were so _useless_ sometimes.

The file room was in the basement of the building, and he hates going down there because the low lighting and endless shelves were kind of terrifying. He gets to the ground floor and nods a greeting to the receptionist before he going to the back of the building and taking the stairs downwards.

He stands at the bottom of the stairs for a seconds, when he hears a low quiet sound. A few second later, another sound rumbles through the small room and _that_ was the unmistakable sound of a moan. Hell fucking _no._

He doesn’t know what exactly he expects to find when he walks a few rows down tot eh ends of the room, but it definitely wasn’t Zayn with his mouth pressed flushed against Ryan’s and his hand sliding up his half unbuttoned shirt and Ryan’s hand roaming Zayn’s body.

Liam doesn’t know if the strangled noise that leaves his throat is of anger or jealousy. Whatever it was, it makes the pair rip apart violent and gawk at Liam with wide eyes.

“Both of you,” Liam manages to grit out. “In my office. _Now.”_

Liam was sure he was seeing red, and okay, he was fucking _furious._ He climbs up the strays with quick heavy footsteps and he can hear Zayn walking right behind him quietly calling his name.

“Liam,” He says, again, just as the two of them are outside his office.

Liam whirls round, jaw clenched “What?” He snaps.

Zayn looks around before he pushes Liam’s door open and gets both of them inside. “Liam, _relax.”_

He looks at Zayn, bewildered. “Relax? What the hell is wrong with you?” He exclaims loudly, and Zayn winces. “This is a professional _work_ place.”

He notices Zayn’s hair is a lot more tousled than it was earlier, and his top button is undone and somehow that was just adding fuel to the fire.

“Don’t blame Ryan, yeah?” Zayn says quickly, “He really needs this recommendation. It was my fault, yell at me –“

“You’re defending him?” Liam asks, incredulously. “And I _am_ yelling at you!”

“He was going down to the file room, and I followed him down, it wasn’t his fault.” Zayn says.

Liam turns away from him and takes a seat on his chair. Zayn slides up on the chair across his desk. “Liam, c’mon.” He says bleakly. “It won’t happen again, I swear.”

Liam doesn’t know why he feels so betrayed. Zayn wasn’t his boyfriend, he had no clam over him but he was still sitting there, fuming because—

He wants to tell himself it’s because this was his workplace that he was in charge of, and they were just making a mockery of it. But the feeling of that pure raging jealousy tearing through his chest and crawling up his throat was all too a familiar feeling now.

“Oh, I know it won’t, not if I have anything to say about it.”

“Are you going to fire him?” Zayn asks immediately. “He only has a few more days left.”

Liam just stares at him, because no way was Zayn defending and looking out for a guy he’s known for about ten days.

He closes his eyes for a second, tries to take a relaxing breath. “Wish I could fire you both, actually.” He says sardonically. He watches as Zayn bites on the inside of his lip nervously, a habit Liam had always found equal parts endearing and distracting. “Wish you would just _leave,_ actually _._ This job was actually bearable before you got here.” He doesn’t really know how the words tumble out, but for some reason he feels a little better acknowledging it out loud.

Zayn looks hurt, and Liam can’t find it in himself to feel bad about it. “We have rules here and strict policies to adhere here, and your treating this job like it’s a joke.”

“You’re blowing this out of proportion.” Zayn says, slowly. “And you know I keep up with all my work. You’re letting this one little thing tarnish everything I’ve done here in the last few months.”

“The only thing you’ve _done_. Is make my life is a living hell.” Liam rages as he stands up, slamming his hands onto the desk.

Zayn sinks back into the chair, sucking in sharp breath. Somehow, the look of devastation on Zayn’s face does nothing to appease him and he just feels even worse than before.

He thinks, this entire situation of seeing Zayn after years of being apart was finally sending Liam to his breaking point. He was like an elastic band, that was being relentlessly pulled for the last few months and now he was only moments away from snapping.

Just seeing Zayn so unexpectedly and then having him around for so long was breaking him, he constantly felt like his insides were shattering and he just wanted it to be _over_ already.

 _This_ was the phase in their life where they should have been married, living together, living the life they always dreamt of, side by side.

Not spiralling into a breakdown because he was kissing someone that wasn’t him.

“Please leave.” Liam chokes out, his voice sounding wrecked.

Zayn stands up, his eyes swimming with concern. “Liam—“

“Just go.” Liam begs, ignoring how soft Zayn’s voice was. How he kind of wants to melt into it.

He doesn’t budge. “Just talk to me, please.”

Liam feels how he did when he was fresh out of their three-year relationship, heart heavy and aching with the constant feeling that everything was irreparably falling apart. Having Zayn standing right across him, looking directly into the eyes of the source of his pain was not helping.

He lets out a sigh, and slides open the bottom drawer of his desk. He pulls out a bottle of red wine that he’s saved for special occasions (happy occasions, not something to take the edge off his pain) and two crystal glasses and places them on the table.

“Liam,” Zayn says again, just sounding defeated at this point.

He just pours the two glasses, and takes his to the sofa that was pressed on the left wall of his office. He sits down and takes a few sips, leaning back onto the leather.

He hears Zayn sigh, before he grabs his cup and joining Liam on the sofa. “I said talk about it, not drink about it.” He mutters under his breath, but takes a sip anyway.

They sit in silence for a while, slowly drinking their wine.

“Sometimes I think about the past.” Liam confesses.

Zayn turns and looks at him, and he shrugs. “Not the most outrageous confession. We were together for three years. Not like you can just forget.”

“Wish I could.”

Zayn narrows his eyes dangerously, and Liam immediately wants to take his words back. “Not – not like that.” He says, “I just mean. Breakups fucking _hurt_ and I just.”

“I get it.” Zayn breathes out.

“We were kids.” Liam says. “We didn’t know shit all about the world, but there we were. Professing our love to each other every chance we got.”

Zayn laughs quietly. “Yeah. It was good, man.”

The wine makes him feel softer, drowsier. It’s why he leans in close, his face only inches away from Zayn’s, who watches him intensely.

“I do miss it.” Liam says.

“Hmm.” Zayn hums. “Maybe we could just—“ He lefts a hand, gently places it on the side of Liam’s neck. “For old time’s sake.” He says quietly and –

Fuck if Liam could deny Zayn a single thing.

“For old time’s sake.” Liam repeats with a whisper, and he doesn’t _think_. Just leans forward and crushes his lips against Zayn’s.

He feels warm all over, and all the aching pain in his chest dissipates for just a moment and Zayn let’s out a quiet sound against his lips, gently parting them and running his tongue along the seam of Liam’s mouth and coaxing it open.

Zayn licks into Liam’s mouth lazily at first, but it only takes a few moments for his kissing to become urgent and insistent. Liam pushes up against him, kissing him hard enough that he hopes the imprint of his lips will leave a shadow on Zayn’s mouth.

Liam lets out a guttural sound, sliding his hand to the back of Zayn’s neck, pushing his lips roughly against Zayn’s.

Zayn moves closer, closing the distance between them and climbing onto Liam’s lap, his hands holding Liam’s face and making small noises as he kisses him with fervour.

Zayn grinds down on Liam’s hips, and a wave of pleasure shoots through him, “Zayn,” He groans, “ _Fuck_.”

Liam tips his head back when Zayn moves lower and presses kisses to his neck, gently sucking and licking over his skin until he knows it’ll leave a mark.

His hands move to the collar of Liam’s shirt, and he looks at him questioningly. “Can I?” Zayn asks, his voice sounding wrecked.

Liam nods, just as Zayn swiftly pull his tie off him, tossing it onto the floor. He undoes Liam’s buttons with nimble fingers, shifting on this lap to give himself more room.

Liam shrugs out of his once perfectly pressed dress shirt and tosses it over the armrest on the other side. When he turns back to Zayn, he’s positively gawking at him.

His bottom lip is caught between his teeth and his eyes impossibly blown as his eyes rake over Liam’s chest. “How did you get even fitter than before?” He says under his breath, before he surges forward and mouths at Liam’s collarbones.

“Lay down.” Zayn says, and Liam shifts quickly so he’s lying his back with Zayn still straddling his hips. He leans down, running his tongue down the dip of Liam’s abs, “Been thinkin’ about this for so fucking long.” He says, and all Liam can manage is a groan of agreement.

Zayn moves upwards again, and mumbles a quiet “for old time’s sake,” right by his ear before he kisses Liam again.

Zayn twists his hips on top of Liam in the most obscene way, and all Liam can do it jut his hip up every so often in an attempt to create more friction. Zayn smirks at him, before he reaches for Liam’s button and he can’t help the sigh of relief that makes Zayn laugh.

“Can you take this off,” Liam asks, tugging at the material of Zayn’s shirt. “It’s been driving me crazy all fucking day.”

Zayn undoes his buttons, before throwing his shirt haphazardly and tugging off his slacks too. The first thing notices is the ink on his collar bones, that was new, and he can’t help but run his fingers over his defined abs. He was so different but still the same Zayn, still the same boy he fell in love with so many years ago.

He moves so he’s sitting between Liam’s thighs, and tugs own his dress pants all the way. He knows what Zayn’s like, knows that if he has it his way he’ll take his sweet time teasing Liam until he can’t take anymore but right now he’s fucking _desperate_ for Zayn to touch him.

Liam pushes down his boxers himself, rather than letting Zayn take his time and the sound of surprise Zayn makes is worth it. He stares at Liam unabashedly, and he’s so fucking in love with Zayn it _hurts_ —

“Tell me what you want.” Zayn says hoarsely.

“Anything,” Liam says quickly, his voice pleading, “Just touch me,”

Zayn wastes no time, he positions himself comfortably between Liam’s legs before leans down and licks at the head of Liam’s cock.

Liam lets out an embarrassingly unrestrained moan, because he fucking missed this. Zayn peers up at him, his doe eyes looking so innocent before he drops his gaze and wraps his mouth around Liam’s cock, sucking gently.

“Zayn,” He moans out, too euphoric to hold back his embarrassing noises.

He mons around his dick, the vibrations sending waves of pleasure through him. Zayn wraps a hand around the part that his mouth can’t reach, and bob his head slightly as he works his mouth around Liam.

Liam feels burning hot all over, the warmth of Zayn’s mouth making his stomach coil. He works over Liam’s dick making filthy noises that make him think that this is going to end a lot quicker than he’d like.

He watches intensely as Zayn uses on hand to slide off his own boxers and wraps a hand around himself, Liam lets out another whined moan.

He hips snap upwards when he’s close, and Zayn pulls off him while jacking both of them off in the same rhythm.

Zayn’s name rolls off his tongue when he comes onto his fist at the same time as Zayn does.

Zayn slumps back into the sofa, fluttering his eyes closed, and Liam can’t decide if getting to see post-orgasm Zayn one more time was the best or worst thing to happen to him. He does know, however, that hooking up casually with an ex-boyfriend, a colleague even, can never end well.

It’s quiet after that, when Zayn regains composure and tidies himself up, tugging his clothes back on and quietly excuses himself from his office.

Liam stands there with his shirt half buttoned, wondering what the hell just happened.

  

 

 

_Liam feels restless laying on his bed at home, while Zayn was soundly sleeping in the next room over. They had both decided to visit Liam’s family for a few days during the Christmas holidays and even though they’d been together for just over a year, his mum was adamant on them sleeping in separate rooms._

_That was okay, except for the fact that he was twenty now and also a little dependant on having his boyfriend bedside him order to sleep. He stares at the ceiling in the dark for a while, focusing on sleeping but the sheets were too warm and the mattress was too soft and he just couldn’t get comfortable._

_Most of their day was spent eating the enormous amounts of food his mum had made and sitting in front of the telly catching up. They’d done the whole meet-the-parents thing last year, but that was when they came to visit them at university, never at their own home. That would definitely make this a new relationship milestone, Liam thinks._

_He huffs a bit, kicking off his bedsheets and swinging his legs off the bed, slowly walking towards his door and opening it quietly. He walks gently to the room next door, pushing it open and wincing at the creaking noises it makes._

_The light from the hallway illuminates Zayn’s sleeping face quite beautifully, showing off the sharp angles of his face and making him look impossibly innocent. Liam lets himself in and closes the door behind him, walking towards the bed._

_“Zayn,” He whispers, flicking his face gently. “Zayn.”_

_He startles awake with a quiet “huh?” and Liam climbs over him and into the bed._

_“I couldn’t sleep.” Liam whispers._

_“That means I can’t sleep too?” Zayn groans, rubbing his eyes. He turns over to face Liam, slinging an arm around his waist._

_“Mhmm,” Liam hums. “Did you have a good time today?”_

_“Yeah,” Zayn breathes out a quiet laugh. “Think it’s really cute that your mum wants to make her son-in-law.”_

_Liam groans, covering his eyes with his arm. “Shut up,” He groans._

_“What?” Zayn giggles. “It’s sweet.”_

_“That how she scares everyone away.” Liam grumbles, and Zayn takes Liam’s arm and moves it away from his face._

_“’M not scared.” Zayn says quietly. “I’m excited.”_

_Liam tries to bite back the grin threatening to split is face, and Zayn leans in and kisses the corner of his mouth._

_“Go to sleep now, yeah?” Zayn says, moving closer and tucking their bodies together._

 

*

 

Zayn can’t quite meet Liam’s eyes for the next week, and something inside Liam breaks just a little every time Zayn quickly looks away or leaves the room when Liam enters.

He understands though, is the thing, because even though Liam thinks their casual hook up was inevitable (he’s not vain, but he wasn’t blind to the sexual tension) it threw them off balance. At the same time though, it kind of came out of nowhere, one minute they’re forcing the whole friendship thing and next his dick is in Zayn’s mouth.

He desperately needed to get this situation under control, or he would happily spend his entire career avoiding Zayn. It takes far too long for Liam to just suck it up and join everyone in the break room one afternoon, and he puts on his brightest, fakest smile.

“Oh look, he’s emerged from his cave.” He hears Louis say before he’s even entered the room. Liam just smiles, he glances over at everyone in the table as a way of greeting, making sure not to let his gaze linger on Zayn longer than any of his other co-workers. It was nice to see that the seat beside Zayn was vacant, and not taken up by some stupid too-young intern who didn’t know how to keep his hands to himself. Liam wasn’t smug when Zayn didn’t seem particularly sad to see him go at the end of his time in their firm, he really wasn’t.

“Was about to send a search party.” Ashton says through a mouth full of burrito.

“Some of us have actual work to get on with.” Liam says good-naturedly, lightly swatting the back of Ashton’s head.

He takes a seat beside Zayn, smiling easily. “I was supposed to check up on your progress yesterday with the graphs.” Liam tells him, sparking up conversation immediately. “But I was swamped with meetings.”

“Yeah? Louis’ looked over ‘em.” Zayn says, and Liam can tell they’re trying just as hard as each other to keep the awkwardness at bay.

Louis hums in agreement from across the table, “He’s sharp with numbers, we should definitely keep him around.”

Zayn just rolls his eyes. Ashton slides a foil wrapped burrito towards him, and Liam takes it with a nod.

Most of the time when no one was bothered to actually go out to get food one person would just go to one of the food trucks situated on the busy street and buy enough for everyone. Louis has a habit of making them trek around London looking for new restaurants a lot of the time though, something about ‘learning about the city we live in!’

“No, no. I definitely have the worst clients.” He catches the conversation midway, and watches as Zayn’s lips turn downwards into a frown.

“How do you mean?” Liam butts in. most of the clients go through Louis and himself, and they allocate them each an accountant from the firm.

“They’re terrible, I don’t get the big rich businessmen type like you lot.” Zayn goes on, “My clients are always the ones with the self-started business that they give up on after a few months and need another approval for a loan. And somehow it’s _my_ fault they have no money.”

Louis throws his head back with a laugh, and Zayn looks between the two of them with narrowed eyes. “You two aren’t conspiring against me, are you?”

“No,” Liam breathes out a laugh. “Maybe you just have a spot of bad luck.”

“ _That_ I definitely do.” He says, dropping his gaze. Liam doesn’t dwell on it.

After lunch, Liam follows Zayn up to the roof who continues with the conversation from lunch, just chattering incessantly without a care if Liam was paying attention or not.

“Like, nobody enjoys raspberry in their granola and the company can easily use those funds for-“ Zayn pauses and grunts a little as he tries pushing the heavy door towards the roof open.

Liam snickers and moves past him to push the door open, with a lot less effort than Zayn had been using.

“Fucking hulk.” He hears Zayn mutter.

He feels a little more relaxed with Zayn after that, even though the business relationship between them was a bit unfamiliar and strange.

“Yeah, as I was saying. Louis and his stupid granola!” He starts again, and instead of heading towards the wall where he usually smokes, he just collapses onto the bench in the middle of the roof. Liam just wordlessly sits beside him, keeping a safe distance between their bodies. “My printer is always out of ink, but let’s just spend our money on gross snacks that no one enjoys, and Louis doesn’t count as a person anymore, he’s a _lizard_ – want one?” He holds out his pack of cigarettes after dangling one between his teeth.

“No, thank you.” Liam politely declines.

Zayn furrows his brows at him, and it shouldn’t be as endearing as it is. Liam finds himself flustered anyway. “Then why you up here?” He asks, his words slightly muffled with the fag.

Liam shrugs, “Just thought we could talk, or something.”

Zayn’s relaxed expression dims considerably, and Liam quickly tries to calm him. “Not like – not something you don’t _want_ to talk about. Just. You know, catch up or whatever.”

His lips tilt up into a smile, or maybe it was a smirk, Liam thinks, because it was sharp and alluring and he really wanted to close the distance between them and kiss it away. “Yeah, we can catch up, or whatever.” He pauses for a second, and doesn’t give Liam much time to respond. “I’m going back home over the weekend.”

Liam’s eyebrows raise in surprise, “Really? How long has it been?”

Zayn just shrugs, and turns to look at the only other the thing on the roof which was a random fire hydrant a few metres away from them. “Been a few months. Since I moved to London.”

“Oh,” He says sympathetically, because that was quite a long time for Zayn to go without seeing his family, and he was always terrible at hiding how miserable the distance made him.

“They don’t know.” Zayn says, and he turns back to look at Liam, but doesn’t meet his eyes. “About you, I mean. I talk to them almost every day but. I couldn’t bring myself to mention it.”

Liam lets out a deep breath. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I told my sisters and they went like, crazy. They caused me more stress than the whole working with the ex process, which they were oh-so-worried about.”

Zayn laughs, but it doesn’t have the usual brightness behind it, instead it just sounds kind of sad. “My mum would probably make me quit, and then she’d come up here and strangle you.”

Liam tips his head back with a laugh, “She wouldn’t, she loved me.”

“I think we’re handling this pretty good, anyway.” Zayn huffs, sucking in the cigarette. “Except that hook up last week probably wasn’t the smartest idea.”

The laughter dies in Liam’s throat, and he averts his gaze to look at his lap instead. They had pretty much gone the last week pretending it never happened, and it confused Liam so much. Now Zayn was bringing it up nonchalantly as if it wasn’t something that had been tearing him apart for all this time.

“What?” Zayn snaps suddenly. “Just going to pretend like it didn’t happen?”

“Excuse me?” Liam narrows his eyes defensively. “ _You’re_ the one who’s been avoiding me.”

“Because you were being weird about it!”

“How the fuck else am I supposed to act about it?”

“Whatever, Liam.” Zayn mutters, and flicks the cigarette butt to the floor, before he stalks off through the door leaving Liam alone.

Liam just stares at his retreating back in shock, because there was no way Zayn was actually upset about this. There’s a strange uneasy feeling settling in his chest, one that he thinks is to do with the fact that he’s realising that hooking up with your ex-boyfriend/co-worker is a terrible, horrible idea.

 

 

Things don’t really improve between them for a while, they spend most of their time keeping out of each other’s way and if their forced to be in the same room all they do is shoot each other glares or just pretend the other was non-existent.

It was driving Liam insane.

There was nothing he’s done at work that he’s regretted more than giving into his desires and touching Zayn how he’d wanted for so long. Except maybe let Louis decide who was going to get the job.

The only thing more frustrating than that was that the weather was seeping in to more warm spring days, and that meant Zayn was sauntering around the place with his sleeved shirts more often with his tattooed honey coloured arms on display.

All Liam wanted to do was _touch._

He ignores the voice in his head though, even when it tells him that the entire thing was Zayn’s bright fucking idea in the first place, _he_ kissed Liam first. They were in the same boat, as far as he was concerned.

Except maybe Zayn was just feeling nostalgic whereas Liam was undeniably completely in love with him.

He tries to remember what it was like, back in university, getting into arguments with Zayn. They hardly every had real fights, only bickered like an old married couple and that was always resolved with a few sweet kisses on the forehead. They argued during the end of their relationship, when everything was falling to pieces and Zayn was leaving for America, but that didn’t last long because. Well, because Zayn _left_ and then that was the end of that.

He’s sitting at his desk wondering whether it would be okay for him to just quit and never see Zayn again, when he’s caught off guard by the muffled sound of a raised voice. He strains a little to listen and he realises that the sound was definitely a client getting rowdy.

Liam gets up quickly, opening his office door and he stutters for just a moment when he realises the sound was coming from the office right across him.

He quickly pushes the door open, and Zayn looks at him with wide eyes. He’s standing up, and so is his client, who was red in the face.

“You should have stopped this,” The guy seethes, not turning around to spare Liam a look. “You’ve run me into the fucking ground!”

“You took out another loan without consulting me.” Zayn responds calmly.

“You should have kept an eye on my statements!” He shouts, and Louis walks into the room looking for the source of the noise like Liam had.

“Get security up here.” Liam mutters quietly under breath. He couldn’t just bottle the guy in the face as much as he wanted to, because this was a professional workplace and he didn’t need to be hit with a lawsuit.

The client looks livid, and he mutters something under his breath as he walks around the table, looking like a predator who was zeroing down on its prey.

 Liam straightens up and walks closer to the table swiftly, his eyes narrowed dangerously. “You put your hands on him and I’ll have you arrested.” He threatens.

The guy turns to look at him, an ugly scowl on his face. “I have nothing left!” He shouts. “And it’s because of him!” he moves in the blink of an eye, raising both his hands to grab Zayn roughly by the shoulders, who does nothing to protect himself except stare with wide eyes.

Liam moves around the table in a second, grabbing Zayn from the back his collar and moving him behind his body. The growl that leaves his throat is unexpected, but not as much as him shoving the client roughly until he stumbles backwards.

“Liam,” Louis snaps, his voice on the verge of being threatening as he swiftly enters the room. There are two security guys tailing him, and they take the client by the shoulders and escort him out the room, and he leaves shouting a stream of colourful words at them. “You’re not allowed to attack clients.” He hisses.

“I know that.” Liam retorts, “I’ll deal with it, get out.”

Louis glares at him but leaves.

Liam turns to look at Zayn, who looks slightly distressed with his bottom lip tucked into his mouth. “Are you alright? Did he hurt you?”

“I’m fine. I’m – yeah. Are you going to get in trouble for that?”

“No.” Liam replies quickly. “It’ll blow over, it’s fine.”

“Okay.” Zayn replies, glancing around nervously.

“Why didn’t you call someone immediately?” Liam asks, his voice sharp. This was him telling his colleague off as a boss, not a conversation between friends. “Everyone has a phone on their desk for a reason. He could have done anything to you, he was twice you size. You should have been _scared_.”

“I wasn’t.” Zayn admits quietly, and he moves closer so their bodies are only centimetres apart. “Knew you were right across the hall.”

Liam’s breath hitches in his throat. “ _Zayn”_ He says sharply, because this wasn’t university and they weren’t in a nightclub where Liam wouldn’t hesitate to unhinge a man’s jaw with a punch for putting their hands on Zayn.

He wasn’t possessive, but he was never one to stand back and do nothing when someone was making Zayn uncomfortable with their advances.

Zayn takes a step back, and then another one. “Thank you, Liam.” He says, before he turns and walks out of the room.

Liam thinks he’s just about had enough of watching Zayn’s back as he walks out on him every time.

_Liam doesn’t think he’s ever felt so lost and alone whilst sitting beside the love of his life. Zayn’s shoulder is gently ressed against his, but he feels so cold, so detached. It could have to do with the suitcases and duffle bags sitting by Zayn’s feet, filled with all his belongings as he moved onto the next chapter of his life._

_Zayn turns a little beside him, so Liam mirrors his movement until they’re looking at each other. He wants to memorise every tiny feature on Zayn’s face before he leaves disappears out of Liam’s life. “You’re sure you don’t want to come to the airport?” Zayn asks, his voice heavy and raspy. His eyes are hooded and he looks tired, Liam is too, what from all the crying and arguing._

_Liam just nods, he doesn’t rut himself to open is mouth because he’s sure his voice is going to sound even more shattered than Zayn’s._

_Zayn sighs deeply, leaning forward slightly, placing a warm hand on Liam’s shoulder. Liam still feels so cold. He inches forward anyway, until the foreheads are touching, and their eyes are fluttering shut._

_Liam’s learnt a lot about himself these past few weeks, he’s learnt that he cries easy when it comes to Zayn. He’s hardly said a sentence to him and somehow there are already hot tears sliding down the side of Liam’s face._

_“Liam.” Zayn chokes out, opening his eyes. “Babe.” Liam notes how red his eyes are, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “We’re going to be okay.” He says with a hint of urgency, and Liam’s heard this line so many times now he’s not sure if Zayn’s trying to convince Liam or himself._

_“Yeah.” Liam replies, covering Zayn’s hand on his shoulder with his own. “I’ll miss you.”_

_A tear slides down Zayn’s face now, and he furiously rubs it away with his free hand. “Me too, Liam. I’ll think of you every day.”_

_“You’ll forget to, soon.”_

_“I won’t. Liam – fuck. Liam, babe, I’ll never forget. Don’t you get it? You changed my life, you changed everything for me.”_

_A strangled noise escapes Liam’s lips, and he turns away from Zayn and drops his head into his hands. His eyelashes feel dewy from all the tears, his vision blurry. He was missing someone who was sitting right beside him, what was going to happen when Zayn was across the other side of the world for the foreseeable years._

_His contract with the company he wanted to work for was for five years. After that long, they would inevitably keep him for the long run, and Zayn would grow roots in America, live a whole new life there._

_“I might hate it.” Zayn says, there’s tears on his face but still a watery smile on his face. “Might miss you too much and come back. You’ll wait for me, yeah?”_

_Liam laughs, and nods. He hates that Zayn is feeding him lies to spare his heart. “I’ll be here. Two, five, ten years from now. I’ll be here.”_

_Zayn leans forward and presses a kiss to his forehead. “We’ll pick up right where we let off. Maybe one day we can still get our big house and range rover.”_

_They both startle when they hear a car pull up on the driveway outside, and Liam’s heart drops to his stomach. He was going to be sick. This really was it for them now._

_Zayn stands up first, and Liam follows after a beat. “If you meet someone new, make sure they’re not better looking than me.” Zayn tells him, this time not bothering to wipe the wetness on his face._

_“Impossible, babe.” Liam replies, with a watery laugh._

_Zayn lunges forward quickly, wrapping his arms around Liam’s neck and pressing their bodies together in a hug. Liam tucks his head into Zayn’s shoulder, both their bodies shuddering with their sobs._

_He squeezes Liam tightly, and Liam is so scared for it to end. It does, Zayn pulls away, and Liam feels like a part of him is being snatched away. He doesn’t feel whole._

_“I’ll miss you, so much.” Zayn says, and he holds Liam’s face, closing the distance between their faces and slotting their mouths together in a fierce kiss. Liam holds on to Zayn for as long as he can, kissing back with just as much force. “You’ll take care of yourself, yeah?” He says, pulling back._

_Liam nods. “Promise.”_

_The car outside blares their horn, and Zayn winces._

_“I wish things could have ended differently with us, Li. You deserve everything, I’m so sorry that I couldn’t give you that.”_

_“You did – you_ did _. Everything, Zayn.”_

 

Liam thinks he’s too old to be pinging like a teenager, even though the ache in his heart feels centuries old. Too familiar, too acquainted inside him now.

He lays flat on his back on the sofa in his living room, trying to regulate his breathing like his second therapist taught him, and becoming comfortable with his pain like the fourth one taught him.

“Why should I be force myself to be comfortable with my pain?” Liam says to the ceiling.

“Huh?” Louis looks up from his magazine, sitting on adjacent sofa.

“Fuck.” Liam scrambles to sit up, “What the fuck am I _doing_?”

“Well, you’ve been talking to yourself for the best part of the last hour.” Louis supplies.

“Zayn is _here_. He’s fucking here, and I’m –“ Liam stands up. There’s something inside him suddenly, some sort of love confession that’s fighting to be let out, to be shared and shouted out. Why was he keeping this to himself? It was eating at him and he can’t live with this feeling for however long it wants to stick around, Zayn needs to _know_. “I’ll be back in a bit.” He goes to his room, grabs a sweater and pulls it over his t-shirt, leaving his grey sweatpants on. Louis says his ass look nice in them.

If Zayn doesn’t feel the same way, then, Liam decides, that it will better than not knowing. “By the way, if this doesn’t go well, you can take over my job as manager.”

“Cool,” Louis says, not looking up this time, popping a piece of chocolate into his mouth.

He debates grabbing his keys for a second, but decides against it because he thinks he could use the walk, maybe sort through his thoughts a little. Currently his mind was just a whirlwind of feelings ranging from ‘I’m so in love with you’ and ‘let me wake up next to you for the rest of our lives’.

It starts raining ten minutes into his walk, and he realises sorting through his thought is causing him more grief than anything. He gives in and calls a taxi when his phone tells him it was siltl another twenty-minute walk to Zayn’s apartment.

Ten minutes later, Liam’s standing in front of Zayn’s door, his hair damp when he realises that the insane courage he had mustered in the last half an hour that led him here had gone and completely run out.

What the hell was he doing? He can’t tell share his feelings with Zayn, it was none of his business that Liam was still in love with him! Liam was more than happy to keep information that stored inside him to his deathbed.

The door on the other side of the large hall opens, “Liam?” He hears Harry voice. He turns around, and he feels cold and anxious and he doesn’t know what he’s _doing_. “Liam.” He says again, brows furrowed. He’s wearing jeans a coat, like he was just on his way out. “You alright?”

“Um.” Liam’s hand goes to the back of his neck, rubbing nervously. “I’m just – I thought I wanted—“

“Just knock, Liam.” Harry says, sounding exasperated. “You’ll be fine.”

Liam blinks at him. Harry walks to the stairs, “Or just stand out here and think about what could’ve been.” He shrugs, before he disappears down the stairs.

Liam turns back to the door, scrunching is eyes closed. He knocks once, then takes a step back.

“M’not going out, Harry!” Comes Zayn’s muffled voice.

Liam sucks in a sharp breath, because this was real, this was happening. “Not Harry,” He replies, and his voice sounds so much calmer than he feels.

He hears a set of quick footsteps, then the door opens. “Liam?” Zayn blinks at him with wide eyes.

“Hey,” He says, as Zayn opens the door wider and steps aside to let him in. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah,” Liam breathes out, as he toes off his trainers and struggles to make eye contact with Zayn. He feels at home in Zayn’s presence, but the connection between them was foreign and terrifying.

Zayn leads them inside and ushers Liam towards the sofa as he heads towards the kitchen. “Can I get you something to eat? Drink?”

Liam shakes his head, “I’m fine.”

Zayn tilts his head at him a little, a small fond smile on his face. Liam’s heart aches. “I’m making chicken alfredo, it’s very much your style.” He says, “Harry brought this fresh pasta from this small café in Covent Garden and it’s supposedly meant to taste better than the store bought stuff, but it looks the same to me.”

He walks into the kitchen, still rambling on about pasta and how ridiculous Harry was, seemingly ignoring the fact that Liam’s showed up at his door late in the evening with wet hair, looking a complete mess.

Liam stands up quietly and walks towards the kitchen, Zayn stands with his back to him as he mixes butter in a pan. He pulls the stool from the breakfast bar and sits down, just watching Zayn move around the kitchen as he rattles on about the price of cinnamon in central London.

“Like, it’s a stick?” He says, straining the pasta in the sink. “Why are you going to charge me so much for a stick.”

When he turns to look for Liam’s face, he smiles in response. “Get used to it, you get charged to breathe in London.”

Zayn rolls his eyes, “It was the same with the main tourist cities of America, it’s ridiculous.” He talks a little bit about America, and just the mention of it makes Liam feel like his throat is closing up.

H tries to focus on Zayn’s movements, how the jumpers falls off is slim frame and his black sweats hug his calves nicely. He slides about the tiled floor with his socked feet, trying to be as wick as possible mixing the ingredients together, while still talking.

Liam wonders what it would be like coming home to this. Being uncomfortable in his suit and tie, having Zayn tangle his fingers in his collars to loosen the tie and unbutton the top few buttons. Zayn would have shucked off his own tie in the car but Liam would drive so he wouldn’t get a chance too, and then they would seriously discuss if anyone had the energy to cook, they’d order chinse and Zayn would lick off sweet and sour sauce from Liam’s face.

That’s how it was supposed to be, that’s what they planned when they were twenty. Now he’s twenty-five, is breath coming out in short pants and his head feeling dizzy because he doesn’t know where he went wrong, why he couldn’t get the love of his life to stay.

“Liam – _Liam_ ,”

He doesn’t realise his hand is braced on the table, leaning forward slightly as he tries to work his way through the panic curling its way through his chest.

Zayn’s hand is warm on his back, soothingly running up and down until Liam sits straighter and gently moves it.

Zayn is looking at him with wide worried eyes.

“I’m sorry,” He gets out, as he stands up. The kitchen feels too small suddenly, Zayn too close. He just wants to be able to breathe without feeling like someone was punching him in the chest, and he can’t do that with Zayn looking at him like Liam means something to him. “I need to go,” He scrambles away from him and rushes into the living room.

“Liam, what the hell, you’re not leaving.” He hears Zayn say, then his fingers are encircled around Liam’s wrist. “You just had a fucking panic attack in my kitchen, you’re not going anywhere.”

He turns around to look at Zayn, and he clenches his jaw down hard so he doesn’t do something ridiculous in front of Zayn, like _cry_.

He puts a hand on Liam’s arm, and gently lowers him down onto the sofa. “Let’s talk about it then.”

“Nothing to talk about.” Liam grinds out.

“Well there’s obviously something. It’s not every day you show up at my door and freak out.”

“I’m fine. And I’m _sorry.”_

“Don’t be sorry, just. Tell me what’s bothering you,” Zayn says, and he looks so earnest when he looks at Liam with his lips pressed together and browns furrowed.

He wants to tell Zayn that he promised Liam, years ago, that if Zayn came back then they would pick up right where they left off. But it was an empty promise, just to soothe the ache in both of their hearts, and bringing it up feels childish.

He wants to be honest, he wasn’t the weight lifted off his shoulder, because holding his feelings for Zayn in was starting to feel like a burden he was carrying.

“What are we _doing_?” Zayn suddenly bursts out.

Liam looks at him with a frown. He doesn’t know what they’re doing. He was hoping Zayn would tell him. “Why are you _here,_ Liam?” He asks fiercely.

Liam looks at him a threatened deer. “I’m just – “ He cuts off, looked at Zayn haphazardly. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“Okay.” Zayn says. He folds his hands on his lap, fixing his gaze on Liam. “Talk, then.”

Liam lets out a shuddering breath, there was something about Zayn’s scrutinizing gaze that made him feel bare, but exhilarated. He wanted to spill his heart to the beautiful man in front of him, who he’s loved for so, so long.

“I’m sorry for not responding to your letters that first month. I hoped you would keep sending them even though you didn’t get a responsive.”

Zayn laughs softly, “S’ok, I can take a hint.”

“I just wanted to get over it. Every time I saw your letters on my bedside table I felt like I reopening wounds and I just, I wanted to forget.”

“Did you? Forget, I mean.”

Liam scoffs, “I didn’t. I missed you all the time. I tried seeing other people, but I would always find something wrong with them. They were never you.” The words tumble out at their own accord, but Liam finds that he doesn’t mind much. The look of sheer adoration he gets from Zayn eases the embarrassment he should be feeling. He’ll confess anything if it gets Zayn to just _look_ at him like that.

“I wrote all those letter when I was drunk.” Zayn admits. “Then the next morning I would seal them without looking at the embarrassing shit I wrote and I’d just mail it. I liked feeling that you were still close to me, that I could write to you and we could just be _us_. It was stupid anyway, I should’ve just sucked it up and got over it.”

“Did it go away?” Liam asks, and he’s not dreading the answer. “Did the feelings go away?”

Zayn lets out a quiet breath of air, and he drops his gaze for just a second. When he looks back up at Liam, his eyes are hard to read, something between remorse and fondness, Liam doesn’t quite know what to make of it. He doesn’t get to look into much, because Zayn is moving now and Liam is just staring at him desperately as he realises Zayn is moving closer and into his lap. His hands are on Liam’s shoulders, and they slide in towards his neck and next thing Liam knows, Zayn’s lips are pressed on his in a slick and messy kiss.

He movies instinctively, placing one hand on Zayn’s jaw and sliding one around his waist to pull him closer. Zayn kisses him with determination and force, coaxing Liam’s mouth open with his tongue in seconds and licking into his mouth desperately.

It’s over as quick as it starts, Zayn pulls away, his hands still on either side of Liam neck. “Is this okay?”

Liam looks at him desperately with wide eyes, “Am I giving off any type of signal that this isn’t okay?”

Zayn grins at him, “I want to make sure.” He says.

Liam’s own smile falters for a second then, because he remembers their last hook up, remembers Zayn whispering about how it was nothing than them visiting the past. He can’t do casual, not again.

“I’m in love with you.” Liam says.

Zayn looks at him with soft eyes, his lips parted as quiet trembling breaths leave his mouth. He moves into Liam’s area again, but this time he just tucks his head into Liam’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around his neck tightly. It catches Liam by surprise, the warm bone-crushing embrace, but he relaxes into it and allows himself to lean onto Zayn as he wraps his arms tightly around his waist and pulling their bodies together. The hug feels like happiness and warmth and every broken piece of Liam coming together into a whole piece again, put together bit by bit my Zayn’s embrace.

He lets out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding, and a surprised laugh bubbles out of his throat when he hears Zayn sniffle against him.

“Zayn,” Liam whines quietly, pulling away but keeping his arms around Zayn. “ _Babe_.”

“Sorry, sorry.” He mumbles quietly, and Liam notes the pink flush in his cheeks, the way his eyes are the slightest bit glassy and full of wonderment. His hands are on Liam’s jaw, soft and barely there, his face gently touching the side of Liam’s. They just sit there, breathing each other in for a while.

“It took us far too long to get here.” Zayn murmurs quietly. “Almost been here for half a year.”

Liam hums in response. “Yeah, I’ve always been a bit daft when it comes to you.”

Zayn kisses his cheek, then moves down to his jaw. “I –” another kiss, “Love you,” he kisses the corner of Liam’s mouth, “So much.”

He huffs out a laugh, lets Zayn place kisses all over his face. “I feel like a weights been lifted off my shoulders.” Zayn says.

“Exactly, yeah. Wish we did this sooner.” Liam says, “Right now, it doesn’t make sense to me why we didn’t.”

“I promised you that we’d pick up where we left off, I was hoping you’d bring that up at some point.”

Liam laughs, “I wanted to.” He says, just a little gasp escapes him. Zayn hums in response as he sucks a mark on the column of Liam’s throat. “I should’ve bent you over my desk the first day you stepped into my office.”

Zayn detaches himself from Liam and looks at him with wide eyes. “Can we still do that?”

Liam snorts out a laugh, but nods frantically anyway. “Yes, definitely.”

Zayn smiles in satisfaction and moves back to kissing Liam’s neck. “You don’t know what it did to me, seeing you that first time after so long. I don’t understand how you managed to get even hotter than before. The way you look in a suit is fucking obscene, it should be illegal to look that hot at work, I had a stiffy like sixty percent of the time.”

“Fuck,” Liam groans. “Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to rip off those awful tight half-sleeved shirts you wear? I was fucking salivating in my mouth every time I saw you.”

Zayn grins, sucking gently at Liam’s skin.

“Wait, wait, I have -fuck,” Zayn sinks his teeth gently into Liam’s skin. “Meeting, I have a meeting tomorrow, no marks. Where you can see them.”

The smile Zayn gives him, sly and mischievous, paired with his saliva slick lips causes an embarrassing swelling in Liam’s pants. “Marks where no-ne can see them, then?” Zayn asks, his hands dropping to Liam’s waist. “No one except me?”

Liam sucks his bottom lip into his mouth. Zayn was going to ruin him, and he was more than willing. Eager, even.

 

 

Waking up in Zayn’s bed was a sensation Liam thought he would never experience again. But somehow, the universe tore them apart just to shove them back into each other, or the stars aligned in their favour, or whatever shit cosmic metaphor there was to describe how perfect the pair were for each other; that no matter how far away they strayed from the other, they would always find their way back.

Liam turns to his side and takes in Zayn’s sleeping form. His dark hair falls over his forehead, his honey coloured shoulder exposed and the white bedsheets tangled around his chest. His long lashes span across the sharp of his cheekbones, his lips in a pout.

There’s a tiny bundle of nerves in Liam’s chest because it’s been a while since he’s been in this situation, four years almost, and he isn’t quite sure what he should do. It’s a Saturday, so they don’t have work to be rushing to, and he isn’t quite sure what post-university-grown-up Zayn does on his weekend. When they were twenty, they were either in bed all day nursing a hangover from whatever Friday night party they stumbled into or they would be tucked in a corner of the room studying.

He wonders what’s changed now, what new habits Zayn’s acquired and all the new things Liam is going to get to learn about him all over again. Zayn stirs in his sleep, throwing an arm across Liam’s shoulder, who gently prods at him.

A sleepy smile spreads across his face when his eyes flutter open, and take Liam in beside him. “Thought I was just having a really good dream.” He murmurs, voice heavy with sleep. “Nice to know it was real.”

Liam moves closer to him and hides his grin into Zayn’s shoulder. “Good morning to you too.”

“Great morning. Fantastic morning.” Zayn mumbles.

They stay in bed for a while, whispering sweet nonsense to each other and then Zayn dozes off again for a while. Liam stumbles out of bed and looks through Zayn’s kitchen, and is unsurprised to find two jars of Nutella and not much else to make a breakfast out of.

He slips out of the house and walks a block away to the mini-supermarket and buys a couple bags of groceries, saving Zayn a trip. When he gets back home, Zayn is standing in the middle of the room wearing a pair of light pink shorts and nothing else, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

Liam huffs out a laugh at his dishevelled appearance and drops the grocery bags beside him.

“Liam, you prick!” Zayn groans, Liam frowns at him. “I thought you left.”

Liam snorts. “I thought about it, after I saw the contents of your fridge.”

Zayn flips him off, walking over to him and picking up one bag and they head towards the kitchen. “Sorry, I was supposed to do the shopping like, two days ago.” He says, as he plucks a pack of croissants out the bag. “You didn’t have to do this; I could’ve just gone myself.”

Liam shrugs, “No big deal, you were asleep and I was hungry.”

“Croissant _and_ bagels? Liam, you spoil me.”

“Wait ‘til you see the other bag,” Liam wiggles his brows, “There’s _waffles_.”

Zayn gasps, clutching at his heart. “You didn’t”

Liam giggles, moving towards Zayn and crowding him against the table. “For you, anything.” He kisses Zayn softly, until the other man snakes on arm around his neck, pulling him closer.

“Could get used to having you around.” Zayn says, kissing him again quickly.

“Good, m’not going anywhere.” Liam says with a certainty in his voice that elicits a satisfied smile from Zayn.

“So are we like, boyfriends now?” Zayn asks casually, and Liam watches with fondness as he tries to hide the hopefulness in his eyes.

“Nah, friends is good.” Liam replies just as easily, laughing when Zayn’s lips form a pout.

“Prick.” He mutters.

“What do _you_ want?” Liam asks, leaning on the counter as Zayn starts heating a pan on the hob.

“What do you think I want?” He sounds sardonic, if not a little fondly exasperated that they’re even having this exchange. He cracks a few eggs in the pan.

“Dunno, babe. Going to have to be pretty clear about it, I’m kind of slow.”

“You’re the manager of the entire accountings department?” Zayn says, eyes narrowing. “But fine, whatever. I want to be your boyfriend, yeah? Properly. Not that half-assed shit. But like a real long-term thing, I’m in this properly. Or whatever.”

Liam hums, making a face to show he’s considering this. “That could work. Or whatever.” He says, watching as Zayn bites back the amused smile on his face. “Your eggs are burning.”

 

 

Liam is certain that of all the years he’s worked as an accountant, he’s never enjoyed his job as much as he does now. The entire reason for this could be placed on Zayn. Liam starts the day with the other man groaning beside him about how much he hates waking up early, and even earlier now because Liam has to be there before everyone. A bleary and tired Zayn clambers into his car every morning, with a few random buttons undone and his ties loose around his neck until Liam tuts at him and leans over to his seat to tighten it properly around his collar.

Zayn sneaks into his office in the five-minute break he gets between clients, presses kisses onto every inch of exposed skin, pushes his tongue into Liam’s mouth. They sit in the park down the road with lunch from the food trucks, and discuss every topic their minds touch upon. Liam has never felt so free in the presence of another person.

They usually end up at Zayn’s place, since he lives alone, and they can be as loud and terrible as they want without getting reprimanding looks from housemates. Some nights will end with Zayn digging the palms of his hands into Liam’s shoulders, massaging away the tensions of the day and the stress load that comes with managing a dozen or so people. Then Liam will run them a bath and they’ll spend ten minutes deciding whether they want to smell of coconut the next day, or lavender.

They make up for lost time in the most spectacular ways, and Harry jokes about how they’ve melded into each other seamlessly, two parts of one whole.

They don’t fight often, but when they do, it always ends with bouquets of flowers and apologies whispered into the other’s skin, and always forgiveness.

They love each other loudly, greeting each other in the break room with kisses while a colleague making cooing noises in the background (usually Ashton) or someone making retching noises (usually Louis).

Eventually Louis moves out to go live with his girlfriend, and Liam mentions how all of Zayn’s things are here so paying rent for that apartment was pretty pointless. Zayn laughs into his shoulder and says, “If you want me to move in with you, just ask.” So Liam does, and they do. Zayn officially gets the left side of the wardrobe, and they buy a new dresser to keep his things in.

They get a dog too, at Zayn’s insistence, and Liam realises that slowly, their life was coming together like they had dreamed when they were teenagers in university, hopelessly in love but so unsure of how to navigate around their feelings.

It takes months of planning and deliberating, and eventually it happens when they’re walking through a park at night by themselves, because Liam can’t hold it in any longer. They stop walking on the deserted path, and Liam digs into his pocket, pulls out a small box. The moonlight glints off the sliver band that night the same way it shines down on the tears in Zayn’s eyes. There’s a mantra of “of course, _yes_. Of _course_ I will.” Then there a more tears, and few more kisses.

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you managed to make it this far, thank you.
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated, i'd love to hear from you guys  
> Feel free to drop a message on tumblr! @zrdu


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